Plans are being drawn up for new uses for the giant screen at Millennium Point after bosses announced it was to close following years of loss-making.
A 30-day consultation has begun with 11 members of staff amid plans to close the Giant Screen Cinema at the Eastside venue.
Millennium Point chief executive Philip Singleton said it had been eating into profits for the past six years and never came “anywhere near to break even”.
He is currently working with architects, business advisers and caterers to look into long-term plans to use the screen for events.
“We are looking at options for the future,” Mr Singleton said.
“The way I see it, we have got this really great technological facility and a large atrium for 300 people with a screen unlike anything else in the city.
“It is ideal to host events, using the screens and the brightest projectors anywhere in the world.
“I’d like to see someone like Jonathan Ive [senior vice presidnet of Apple] beaming in and speaking to an audience in Birmingham. Instead of waiting five years and flying him in he could just beam straight in – there is a satellite on the roof – and talk to a business and student audience.”
Mr Singleton declined to reveal the losses made by the cinema but said it was “a lot of money” and while Millennium Point had generated a return in each of the last six years the cinema never came close to being in the black.
It is proposed the giant screen, which was previously operated by Imax, will cease its operation as a permanent commercial cinema from January.
The auditorium is expected to be used for conferences, hires and major events.
Mr Singleton said it had been costly as it operated between 10 and 15 hours a day, 364 days a year, and was subject to major marketing spend.
“There are more cinemas per head in Birmingham than anywhere else in the UK, I am told, and while the part of town we are in is changing hugely it is probably still not the choice to go for an evening out at the moment,” he added. “I am hoping there will be a crescendo finish to celebrate that it is a great venue with a loyal group of followers.
“We have got some very devoted people that use it.”
Mr Singleton said the screen could become a feature of events taking place at Millennium Point. In the coming months, it is hosting the Independent Food Fair, Fierce Festival’s Cyborg Day and Birmingham Made Me, and in the future organisers of such events could find means of using the screen.
The changes come as Mr Singleton is working on expansion plans at Millennium Point.
The venue is 99 per cent full at present and Mr Singleton is currently working on proposals for the future and Six Eight Kafé has recently become the latest business to take up space.
