Prince Charles Cinema

  • Cinemas | Independent
  • Leicester Square
  • Recommended
Anya Ryan
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Time Out says

What is it?

The legendary Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square is central London’s wild-card cinema. Its two screens offer a fantastic blend of new-ish blockbusters, independent and arthouse titles with horror, sci-fi and teen-flick all-nighters, double bills and short seasons. The basic premise of the cinema is, ‘if they can screen it, they will’. Akira Kurosawa seasons run alongside strands celebrating the performances of Greta Gerwig and Richard Pryor; epic 70mm presentations of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ take place in one screen while people bob-a-long to ‘Pitch Perfect’ in the other. And, if you’ve ever fancied watching every ‘Harry Potter’ films back-to-back in one 22-hour sitting, yep, they do that too.

It’s comfy, cheap and very cheerful, and the programming is as good as it gets. Oh and it is also Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson’s favourite UK cinema.

Why go?

If Tarantino's recommendation isn't enough to convince you, then a scroll through the Prince Charles' programme is sure to do it. There's sing-a-long shows and classic horror movie screenings for Halloween. During the festive season, they've been known to play It's A Wonderful Life almost daily. 

Don't miss:

Once a year, the Prince Charles screens all seven Muppet movies back to back. A must-see for film fans everywhere, we think.

When to visit:

Check the website for daily screening times.

Ticket info:

Tickets can be bought on the website or in person at the cinema.

Time Out tip:

If you're a film buff, why don't get a membership to the Prince Charles for only £15 a year? It gives you priority booking and discounted tickets and at Time Out we love the additional access you get to the cinema's weird and wonderful programme. 

Details

Address
7 Leicester Place
London
WC2H 7BP
Transport:
Tube: Leicester Sq
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What’s on

HorrOctober at the Prince Charles Cinema

As usual, beloved central London repertory cinema The Prince Charles will be showing more frightening films than Dracula has had bloody dinners during its month-long season of spooky cinema this October. The wildly eclectic programme features more than 80 titles this year, encompassing everything from horror classics and recent hits to niche B movies, all-night marathons and, of course, its famous Sing-A-Long-A Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct 30 and 31).  Highlights of the programme include live-scored screenings of the original 1922 Nosferatu (Oct 2) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Oct 4), double bills of Halloween/Halloween II (Oct 16), Frankenstein/The Bride of Frankenstein (Oct 19), Scooby-Doo/Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (Oct 23), and an all-night marathon of the first six Halloween films on All Hallow’s Eve itself (Oct 31).  There’ll be plenty of screenings in 35mm, including The Exorcist (various dates Oct 6-Nov 1), The Shining (various dates Oct 2-Nov 1), Mulholland Drive (Oct 2 and 19) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (various dates Oct 2-30), plus re-runs of some of the biggest horror releases of recent years in Weapons (Oct 15), Backrooms (Oct 22) and Sinners (Oct 29). Or if you’re keen to swerve the obvious picks for something a little more niche, take your pick from the likes of ’70s blacksploitation hit Blacula (Oct 6 and 29), 1940s horror comedy movie Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Oct 19) or B-movie classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Oct 12). And...
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