Digital era has arrived
UNDAUNTED by the failure of the developers of the Ennis Road Retail Park (next to Jetland Centre) to attain planning permission for 10 screens from Limerick City Council, cinema operator, Tommy O’Connor, is determined to identify an equally suitable site on the northside.
Cork-based O’Connor, owner of the Reel chain, confirmed to the Limerick Post,
and as exclusively reported last year, that he was willing to transform three idle units at the Ennis Road Park, giving employment to about 40 people.
“Had permission been granted, I would have been up and running at this stage. I thought the site was ideal, with plenty of car parking spaces and already built large units just waiting to be converted into a multiplex”.
There was, he pointed out, a huge catchment “people on that side of the city would welcome the type of project that I had envisaged.
“To get to a movie, they have to travel right across town, to either the Omniplex in Dooradoyle, or Storm in Castletrroy. I think I would have been able to cultivate a new audience”.
When asked if he was still prepared to gamble on providing Limerick with a third cinema location, given the recession, he responded: “Statistics show that the industry in Ireland is thriving. Remember, it is the cheapest form of entertainment, less than 10 euro per person for an evening or afternoon out. I had my homework done in advance…Caherdavin residents and those living in adjoining estates, are simply waiting. Also, Shannon is only a few miles out the road, and they, too, are without a cinema”.
O’Connor, who hails from the Lansdowne Park area, and son of the late Vincent O’Connor, an institution at Todds for many decades, would dearly love to set up business in his native city.
He had shown an interest in the screens proposed for Bedford Row, but later abandoned the idea. “Cinemas don’t work in city centres…you have to be in the suburbs where car parking is available. Patrons are not going to pay to park their cars in the city when they have the facility for free in Castletroy and Dooradoyle”.
O’Connor is certainly not afraid to invest in the future.
On a recent visit to his Reel Cinemas in Blackpool, Cork, he “introduced” me to his new digital system, installed at a cost of 80,000 euro, per screen.
Showing was Transformers. The film was sent via satellite from the United States to his digital hardware system and projected on screen.
“As you see, the quality is crisp and clean, the sound just brilliant and colours especially vibrant.. The era of film turning on a spindle is coming to an end, as, unfortunately, is the day of the projectionist. We are now talking about satellite, hard drives, discs, etc, giving control over to the distribution company. It is possible for me to sit at home and switch on by remote control. Even screening times are regulated from the States”.
