Omniplex owners say it's 'great to be back in Mullingar'

The family that owns the Omniplex Cinema Group say that "it's great to be back in Mullingar".

Paul Anderson, who founded the Omniplex Group in 1991, owned the Ritz on Castle Street and expanded it from a single to a two-screen cinema.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, his son Mark, a director of the group, says that his family are delighted to be able to renew their link to Mullingar.

“It’s great to be back in Mullingar and bringing cinema to a new generation of people and to show how cinema has evolved, in terms of the technology and the luxury,” Mr Anderson says.

“When we decided to open a cinema in Mullingar, we wanted to make sure that not only was it the pinnacle in technology and luxury, but also that it was in the middle of the town to make it as accessible as possible,” he says.

Omniplex opened its new cinema at Harbour Street on December 16 with the creation of 15 new jobs.

The five screen cinema features a Maxx Recline auditorium complete with 15-metre-wide by two-storey-high screen, electric recliner seats and DTS:X Immersive Audio. All five screens feature double sofa beds and the latest laser projection technology.

“Our Maxx Recline auditorium is our most comfortable yet with electric reclining armchairs and DTS:X Immersive Audio – it simply must be experienced to be believed,” Mr Anderson said.

Omniplex first announced plans to open a cinema in Mullingar in the summer of 2019. Mr Anderson says that while Covid-19 brought a range of challenges for the sector, Omniplex never considered putting the project on hold.

“There was never any question of us changing our minds. We knew that this location was important for cinema in Mullingar, so it was critical that it went ahead and we are delighted that it’s open.”

Ireland has the highest per-capital cinema attendance rates in Europe and Mr Anderson believes that the cinema-going market in Mullingar is big enough to sustain two cinemas.

“The industry has really bounced back. There have been some really big films, Spider, Bond, and now Avatar. It’s critical that these big movies are still coming to the cinema and there is a great slate for 2023. I think cinema will come back to where it was pre-Covid in 2023.”

Mr Anderson believes that the Omnipass subscription service, which gives the holder one ticket to every film released by Omniplex for €14.99 a month, will prove as popular with local cinema goers as it had around the country. “You get to see every movie that we show whenever you want and we are releasing 250 movies next year. It’s really good value and it’s gone particularly well in the past couple of months, particularly I think because of the cost of living crisis. People view this now as really good financial sense. If you go and see every movie that is shown, you’ll save a bundle and it costs around about the same as one of the Premium Netflix subscriptions.”