Chester’s £37m new cultural centre Storyhouse has unveiled its opening movie programme as cinema returns to the city centre after a 10 year absence.
The venue, which incorporates a theatre, library and single screen cinema, opens on Thursday, May 11, although the first film will actually be shown on the Friday.
Suspended in a soundproofed ‘light box’ within the former Odeon building, the cinema will show four screenings a day, seven days a week.
Featured in the first eight weeks of opening will be:
■ Latest releases
■ National Theatre live events
■ World cinema
■ Independent cinema
■ Saturday morning family screenings
■ Films dedicated to Women of the World (WOW) Chester Festival
The first ever screening in the brand-new boutique cinema on Friday, May 12, is wartime drama Their Finest featuring an all-star cast including Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton.
Other main releases include the latest in the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant starring Michael Fassbender, comedy-action Mindhorn – straight from the pens of Mighty Boosh writers and epic action adventure Wonder Woman.
Also showing will be Miss Sloane, a political thriller starring Jessica Chastain, Diary of a Wimpy Kid starring Chloe Moretz, plus My Cousin Rachel with Rachel Weisz, Julian Barnes’ A Sense of an Ending, and The Secret Scripture based on the Man Booker nominee.
Chester audiences will be treated to world cinema on the big screen. During May and June cinema-goers can see Kristen Stewart in acclaimed ghost story Personal Shopper and Oscar-winning foreign language film The Salesman.
Countdown to curtain up
Storyhouse opens in
Saturday mornings in Storyhouse will be a place for families to watch a movie together. Every Saturday at 9.30am there will be a family film screened – the first line-up includes BFG, Lego Batman and anime hit When Marnie was There. There will also be film-themed free arts and crafts in the library.
Storyhouse will bring the capital’s finest to Chester audiences by screening National Theatre, Young Vic and Royal Opera House productions. The first in the bill includes NT’s children show Peter Pan, the Royal Opera House’s Otello and the RSC’s Salome.
Also featured will be Olivier award-winning Yerma starring Billie Piper plus Angels in America – National Theatre’s new production of Tony Kushner’s seminal American classic, with an all-star cast including Andrew Garfield, Denise Gough and Nathan Lane directed by Oliver-award winner Marianne Elliot.
As well as blockbusters, independent, world and family films, Storyhouse will bring the classics back to the original Odeon with a series of reissues. Screenings of Woody Allen’s Manhattan and Jack Nicholson’s break-through movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are first on the bill.
The weekend of May 19–20 is the WOW Chester festival – two days of events, workshops, panel discussions and networking opportunities, plus a series of films in the cinema. The line-up includes Certain Women, Letters from Baghdad, The Fits and Viceroy’s House.
Storyhouse cinema will also lay on relaxed screenings and autism and baby and toddler friendly screenings.
Tickets to see a film cost £8.50 during the day and £9.50 in the evening – under 15s concessions are £6.50 / £7.50. Saturday morning and toddler friendly screenings are £4 for all tickets.
For more information visit storyhouse.com
