The Point, Milton Keynes
Encyclopedia
Central Milton Keynes
Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right.The district is approximately 2.5 km long by 1 km wide and occupies some of the highest land in Milton Keynes...
, Buckinghamshire, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. When it opened in 1985, it included the UK's first multiplex cinema
Multiplex (movie theater)
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an...
.
It was originally best known for the ziggurat
Ziggurat
Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near...
-form structure of the front section, with red neon lights connecting the apexes at each side, so that it looked like a pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
at night.
Facilities
As of 2011, The Point houses:- Odeon CinemaOdeon CinemasOdeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
- Gala Bingo (located underneath)
- Milton Keynes Council (Youth work team; includes 'The Spot' youth café)
- The Point Kiosk
- The YMCA Shop
History
In the 1980s, cinema audiences were in decline nationally, due among other reasons to high ticket prices, TV channels and video recorders. Smaller cinemas were closing down as they were no longer economic to operate.The Point opened in 1985 and included a 10-screen multiplex cinema
Multiplex (movie theater)
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an...
, the UK's first multiplex. The first company to run the cinema was AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...
in conjunction with Milton Keynes Entertainment Corporation (MKEC). A year later, the rights to operating this cinema changed to United Cinemas International
United Cinemas International
UCI Cinemas is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Brazil...
(better known as UCI) but was still run in part by MKEC who took the profits from the ticket sales while UCI had the profits from the concession stands. The venue was an instant success and its opening caused, at least partially, the closure of the traditional cinemas in Bletchley
Bletchley, Milton Keynes
Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is part of the Borough of Milton Keynes unitary authority, in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes but still retains a distinctive identity...
and Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...
. In 1991, it hosted a royal première of Harrison Ford's Presumed Innocent
Presumed Innocent
Presumed Innocent, published in 1987, is Scott Turow's first novel, which tells the story of a prosecutor charged with the murder of his colleague, an attractive and intelligent prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus. It is told in the first person by the accused, Rǒzat "Rusty" Sabich...
and was attended by Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
.
The pyramid section of the Point on opening housed The Brasserie, The Croc Bar, a games arcade and a nightclub. A Bingo hall (Gala Bingo) underneath. There was a small newsagents outside the main entrance. In 1995, the owners of The Point refurbished the building and added a pizza restaurant (Deep Pan Pizza, later The Fresh Pizza Company), a health club and a bar/nightclub (Oasis, later Nexus).
Cinema audiences at the Point dropped steadily in the early 1990s. But by 2002, with the opening of the competitive (and more luxurious) multiplex at Xscape
Xscape (building)
Xscape buildings are large, strikingly designed and unusually shaped buildings. Typically they contain a real snow indoor ski slope, leisure facilities and related shops...
, run by UCI's arch rival Cineworld, the Point became a less important part of the centre and annual visitor numbers dropped to just over 1 million. This lost both revenue for the owners and mostly for UCI
United Cinemas International
UCI Cinemas is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Brazil...
. In a drastic attempt to bring its building back to its former glory, ticket prices in UCI
United Cinemas International
UCI Cinemas is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Brazil...
were dramatically reduced. This did not halt the slide in visitor numbers, dipping down to under 800,000. Admitting defeat, UCI
United Cinemas International
UCI Cinemas is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Brazil...
announced in 2003 that its part of The Point was up for sale and that its workers would lose their jobs.
easyCinema
The cinema was rented out to the easyGroupEasyGroup
EasyGroup , founded in 1998, is a conglomerate & the holding company controlling the "easy" ventures; it is privately owned by Stelios Haji-Ioannou....
, renaming the cinema as easyCinema.com. This was regarded as the world's first budget cinema, with ticket pricing based on the EasyJet model with low headline prices (from 20p) for early bookers, then increasing according to demand. The foyer's popcorn, drinks and sweet stands were removed, replacing them with a vast empty space. Visitors were allowed to bring their own food. It showed films that had just recently finished their prime location runs and it did not rely on fixed showtimes. The business plan assumed that the operators could negotiate a fixed price for films (rather than a percentage per ticket sold), but the studios refused to negotiate on this basis.
Later ventures within the area included an easyInternetCafe and an easyPizza pick up point. The cinema and business model was unsuccessful and in early 2006, the company was evicted from its site.
Odeon
United Cinemas International planned to reopen the cinema as a UCI however, during the refurbishment, the company merged with rival chain, Odeon CinemasOdeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
. In May 2006, the site was refurbished and reopened as an Odeon Cinema
Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
.