The Beijing Screen: CGV Cinema

 

 

 

Address: B1/F, B2/F, Xin’ao Guangchang, 11 Hujing Donglu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区湖景东路11号新奥广场地下一层、二层

Website: www.cgvxingx-olympic.com

Telephone: 8437 2280, 8347 8240

 

 

Website: Chinese only

Staff: Cannot really communicate in English

Box office movie display board: Chinese only

 

CGV presents not only China’s first, but the world’s first ‘future movie screening room.’ This advanced technology allows the audience to undergo an extraordinary movie experience which far extends beyond that provided by 3D effects. By using techniques of wind blowing, water spraying, lighting effects, seat motions, and scent spreading, 4D evokes the 5 senses of audience, taking them on a far more exciting and realistic journey to the world of the characters in movies. Aside from 4D there is also a special screening room called the “Vibration Room,” where the seats will vibrate in correspondence to dramatic scenes and characters’ movements in action movies. This experience costs more than normal screening rooms and a lot less than 4D.

 

The waiting area is located in a corner of the cinema. It is designed with wooden stools and small TVs sticking on the walls near the seats. In this way, moviegoers can be entertained with the various movie previews shown on different TV screens at different times; furthermore as there are fewer visitors to this cinema, there seems to be enough seats for everyone who needs a seat.

One of the most annoying rules is that audience is only allowed in 5 minutes before the movie starts, which leads to a lot of seat scrambling amidst the crowd. However, as long as there isn’t another movie going on, you can be admitted in as early as you wish.

 

The Olympic Centre where CGV cinema is located in is literally empty aside from some fast food restaurants such as McDonald and Yoshinoya nearby. Unless you have plans of visiting the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, where are within reach around the Olympic centre, there really isn’t anything fun and exciting to do before and after a movie at CGV.

 

Although the seats are exceptionally soft with the coated layer of soft furry cover, they are also rather overly upright, making the sit through the movie slightly uncomfortable. In the meantime, the sound near the front is overly loud but also too quiet near the back—you must be smart in selecting seats and choose the ones in located in the middle of the cinema.

 

CGV has definitely not put in any effort to design their movie tickets. In fact, they don’t even resemble normal movie tickets but look more like grocery receipts—black and white with receipt-quality paper.

 

At CGV, you can see the popcorn being freshly made in the popcorn making machines. Every bite of popcorn is warm and crunchy. Aside from being coated with dark caramel layers, CGV popcorn seems to be the color of honey golden. No doubts that CGV popcorn is indeed not caramel flavored, the taste may be somewhat unsatisfying as the honey sweet becomes cloying after a while.

 

4/F, Taigu Guangchang (next to Jiuxianqiao Lu),  Jiangtai Lu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区将台路近酒仙桥路太古广场4楼