Cinema upgrade for film fans

The overhaul at Odeon Dumfries in Shakespeare Street and introduction of advance seat reservation comes just in time for major blockbusters such as the new James Bond and Star Wars films.
Cinema manager Ian Thomson said: “We’ve got approximately 150 premier seats now.
“The whole back section has been changed.”
Acknowledging moans over many years about the lack of leg room in the long-established cinema, Mr Thomson added: “Everybody’s really delighted about it.
“And so are we, obviously.”
The introduction of the seats was carried out by closing off the rear of the cinema over two to three weeks, and there are plans to overhaul the cinema’s frontage.
The cinema’s total number of seats has been reduced, with the original six or seven rear tiers reduced to five.
Mr Thomson said: “They’re the premier seats – bucket seats with cup holders and plenty of leg room on laminate flooring.”
And he added: “It’d been in the pipeline for ages, and we kept trying, but earlier this year we got the green light, so that was great.”
There is currently no difference in price for the new seats, with standard evening and daytime tickets for ‘non-blockbuster’ films having been reduced to a new low rate over the last year.
And visitors to the cinema can now take advantage of a seat reservation system by visiting the cinema’s website.
Mr Thomson says bookings are already filling up for new James Bond film Spectre, which opens on Monday, and with clamour for long-awaited Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens in December.
He said: “Star Wars is surprisingly busy; we started taking bookings on Monday, and people have been coming in to try and book when they heard about the new seats.”