Grand Cinema — Attraction in Shanghai

I went here to see Aquaman 3D in December 2018, and, coincidentally, the theater was celebrating its 90th anniversary (1928 - 2018). Here is my overall review:

Where is it located? This is a historic theater, also known as Grand Theatre, at West Nanjing Road in People's Square area Shanghai and was originally constructed before the beginning of the Second World War!

It has been redesigned into a multiplex with 5 smaller studios but still retains the main theater that comfortably accommodates 1300+ audiences!

How is the lobby? When entering the lobby, you see a classical 1930's European theater design with marble flooring. The ticket office is on your left and a grand entrance hallway in the middle adjoining two wide marble stairways on its left and right sides. Walking further, you find a concession stand on your right and when you reach the end of the hallway and turn left, you find 3 entrances to the main theater.

On the second floor, you find a mini museum displaying a number of life-size mannequins of select Hollywood movie characters and 30's Hollywood movie posters in Chinese. The second floor also functions as the entrance to balcony seats and the other smaller theaters.

What are the facilities? Ticket office / Box office Self-ticketing Prices vary depending on the movie and showtimes.The price I paid for the Aquaman 3D 7 PM show was 40 CNY. You get a generous discount if you buy it online using WeChat pay or Alipay :)

Concession stand They sell popcorn and other usual snacks. Only bought a large bag of french fries that cost 35 CNY.

Toilets Dirty and smelly.

Waiting area with padded benches This is only available in the smaller lobby of the other 5 theaters which is connected to the second floor of the main theater. The lobby of the main theater doesn't have any benches or chairs.

How professional are the staffs? I interacted with the ticket seller, ticket takers, and concession stand staff, some of whom were polite while others were rather blunt.

How is the theater? Seats and Seating Layout The main auditorium has 3 entrances: one on the ground floor with entrance doors separated for audiences with odd and even seat numbers, and the other on the second floor for balcony seats. The balcony seats that accommodate around 500 audiences were closed for unknown reasons during my visit.

You enter the main auditorium from the rear and find 2 aisle-ways separating the seats into 3 sections, each of which is further divided into upper and lower block-rows. I selected Row 21 (that's equivalent to the letter U) and seat number 12 in the middle block. It is such a huge theater that being seated in Row 21 doesn't mean you are seated close to the screen as there are still about 15 more rows in front of me!

The folding padded seats are rather small but quite comfy with adequate leg clearance. The floor is very flat like that which you find in old movie theaters.

Screen Small for a theater of this size as the side walls are curved, and it is masked.

Projector The picture was comfortable to the eyes and the 3D effects looked fine.

Sound System Apart from its interior design, this is where the main theater quite shines. Clear vocals and punchy bass coming from the front and supported by about 21 surround speakers.

Air-conditioning System No complaint.

To sum up, out of a total score of 5: Seats and seating arrangement - 3.5 Screen - 3.5 Projector - 4 Sound system - 4 Air-conditioning system - 5 Lobby - 3 Facilities - 3 Staff - 3

The sole reason to go to this historic theater is to see a movie in the massive main auditorium like the old days. Partly...

Conviently located in Nanjing west road in people square, this grand cinema makes you feel like you are back in the 50’s! I went to see abominable in English and had a blast! Toilets smell amazingly good to be noticed! By people’s square metro stop exit 9. I love smelling popcorn as I entered...

The website is only in Chinese!! They don’t care about tourists. I don’t...