Regent achieves highest admissions

The highest admission total for the 2016-17 season of live satellite broadcasts from the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet to over 200 independent cinemas around the UK, was achieved by the Regent Centre, Christchurch.

The figures were collated from September 2016 to July 2017 and then entered into an independent cinema league table.

After finishing ninth in 2014-15, the Regent Centre stormed to the top of the table for the 2015–16 season and has now retained the title and the no. 1 spot for the highest number of admissions in the 2016–17 season of live satellite broadcasts.

The announcement was made at a gala ceremony held at the Soho Hotel in the heart of London’s theatre land, which was hosted by the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet’s cinema distributors on 19 July. The etched glass trophy was formally handed over to the Regent’s general manager, Felicity Porter.

Felicity later celebrated the achievement at the Regent’s brand new Foyer Bar, which opened on 22 July for the full house attending the Andre Rieu screening of his Maastricht 2017 concert.

Felicity said, “I am absolutely delighted with this brilliant achievement of retaining the Regent’s No 1 spot, which is a tribute to all of the hard work by the Regent Centre staff, volunteers and to the loyalty of our valued patrons.

“It gives us a great opportunity to launch the new Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet Season for 2017-18, which begins on Wednesday 20 September at 7.15pm with a brand new screening of Mozart’s The Magic Flute live by satellite from the Royal Opera.”

Other highlights to the new 2017–18 season include: La Boheme on 3 October and The Nutcracker on 5 December.