Burnham-On-Sea’s Ritz Cinema will open a brand new £160,000 third screen this Friday (October 23rd) following a major project to expand its facilities.
The popular cinema in Victoria Street – which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year under the ownership of Pat and Beryl Scott – is opening the new 72-seat auditorium alongside its current two screens.
The new air-conditioned, sound-proofed facilities include a state-of-the-art £50,000 digital projector.
Pat told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We love this building and are so pleased to have completed this milestone. While it’s a really modern new auditorium, it also retains all the traditional style of The Ritz.”
The first movie in the new third screen will be the family film Hotel Transylvania 2 at 3.45pm this Friday, which will be followed by Suffragettes in the evening.
There are plenty of blockbusters coming in the next few weeks, said Pat. “It’s a great time to be film lover, with the new James Bond film opening on Monday 26th October, the latest Hunger Games film coming in November, and the all-new Star Wars movie opening just before Christmas.”
He added: “We also have lots of live events, including theatre performances from the West End and music concerts. The new screen also gives us the ability to show more mainstream films with a greater choice of screening times.”
The cinema’s second screen, which has 85 seats, has also been refurbished while the main screen continues to seat 115 people with a combined total of 272 across the whole cinema.
The building work has taken thirteen weeks to complete from start to finish, with the final cost at around £160,000.
Ritz Social Club, which owns the building, recently signed a 14-year lease with the cinema owners to allow the construction of the extra screen.
The couple thanked their Project Manager, Jon Course, for his work in keeping the project running to schedule and budget.
While the new auditorium opens for business this week, an official gala screening and opening will also be held in mid-November, to be held in aid of the RNLI.
