By Kingsley Adegboye

GONE are the days when those who patronised Cinemas did so under discomfort, and viewers crammed under an unconducive atmosphere to watch films.  

These days, Cinema enthusiasts go to Cinemas to watch films under conducive atmosphere and maximum comfort. This is because indigenous architects have realized comfort of filmgoers will attract much more traffic to Cinemas than any other factor.  

So, in their designs of modern-day Cinemas, comfort of customers comes first.  In the Cinema houses of today, viewers have choices to make concerning whether they want to stay in the main theaters or smaller private screen rooms that can contain less crowd.  

For those who want to combine fun with pleasure, they have more than enough choices to make depending on their pockets.  In some cases, there are provisions for theaters for families/friends of eight or ten that are designed like a residential family lounge where family members go to watch films of their choice on request.  During the period they will be there depends on the number of hours booked, they will have access to kitchenette and unlimited cinema foods.  According to Arc. Oginni Olalekan, who has designed and completed between 18 and 20 modern Cinemas in different parts of Nigeria between 2014 and today with more numbers in Lagos.  

Cinema design is a specialized part of construction.  According to Olalekan who equally manages a Cinema operation in Lagos, “You must understand the fundamentals. Architecture is a very broad and holistic subject that gives you the background to understand each material and what you can use it.” “That was why I was able to look at materials and identify what they can be used for and how they can support cinema construction. 

“The General architecture is quite different from the cinema architecture. Some major elements of cinema design include development of the concepts for the screen rooms; the aesthetics approach; uses of colors, sounds and lighting; and the selection of the projector. 

“ It’s also a guest-appealing design which has to be picturesque because cinema is about experience. But in the real sense of it, architecture is about function and form, but in cinema, it is about the experience in the space, people leave their homes to come and watch a movie, which could have be done in the comfort of their houses.

“It’s about giving them comfort. That is why an architectural design is different from a cinema design”, Olalekan noted. 

On Cinema operation, he said it’s quite different, explaining that it falls under the entertainment industry and it’s about guest service.  “This has broken Cinemas into different sections. We have the hybrid, the private screening whereby you can come with your friends, eat, drink and watch your choice movie. 

“It’s about people coming together to achieve the set aims. People were very skeptical about the cinema when Covid-19 happened where people could not come close to one another. It gave room to home VOD (Video On Demand platform) to grow their platforms and everyone thought that it was going to end the cinema business. 

“VOD and cinema business are two different things. The VOD is the video on demand. Cinema brings experience and it immerse guest into the big pictures on the screen and it gives you what you cannot get in homes.  

“Technology has come to play with the likes of IMAX, MX4D, dbox where you get motion while sitting and watching your movie.  “I think the VOD has allowed the cinema business to also grow in the sense that people are more in tune with the latest technology in the cinema space.  “Architecture is about practice, it’s about you doing it, when you get to specific areas, it makes you experience it while improving the experience for future designs.

“Cinema business is a growing business and investors will definitely get good returns on investment when done properly. It’s capital intensive and it can do a lot of numbers. The whole cinema box office in Nigeria is going to over six billion Naira a year.  “It shows that there’s still room for growth for a country of 200 million people and we have less than 60 cinemas. If you look at it, it means there’s room for improvement. Cinema is not only about watching movie, it is also about socializing.  

 “Right now, we are putting more activities into the cinema space like gaming, football and more activities just for people to come together. The cinema increases family bond when you all go out to watch to movies.  “I think cinema business is the only leisure that creates bonding with the kids and family”, Olalekan opined