Film premieres in London have long been the exclusive preserve of studio executives and their guests, the 1,600 chosen few who could cram into the capital’s largest cinema, the Odeon Leicester Square. Now a Hollywood studio is throwing open its doors to the public, enabling as many as 10,000 fans to walk up the red carpet at the biggest movie premiere in Britain.
Walt Disney Pictures is turning the O2 arena in Greenwich into what it describes as “the largest cinema in history” for its latest blockbuster, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Not so long ago the O2 was the much-mocked Millennium Dome, a vast empty shell on a desolate peninsula in East London. Now it has become the nation’s most popular music entertainment venue, attracting artists including the Eagles, Kylie Minogue, Led Zeppelin and Celine Dion.
If Disney’s premiere on June 19 – before the film’s general release on June 26 – is a success, the O2 could become a regular movie venue. The arena has been specially adapted with a delayed surround system to offer an “unparalleled audio-visual experience”, the organisers said.
For £12.50 a ticket, the public will be able to join the film’s cast, including Ben Barnes, the young British actor who plays Prince Caspian, and Liam Neeson, the Oscar-nominated Irish star who voices Aslan the lion, as well as the director Andrew Adamson, who also made the Oscar-winning Shrek.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, for whose redevelopment appeal Disney is raising millions of pounds.
