Odeon names 10 cinemas opening on July 4 – and you can start booking tickets today

ODEON will begin reopening its cinemas across the UK from next Saturday, and fans are able to book tickets for screenings today.

Ten Odeon cinemas in England will be the first to open, with a further 88 set to reopen by July 16.

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From today, tickets will be on sale for big screen classics including 1917, Empire Strikes Back, Little Women, Bad Boys for Life, Dirty Dancing, and The Greatest Showman, which Odeon plans to show in the coming weeks.

The release of new films has been stalled during the coronavirus pandemic.

Odeon is also planning to screen the summer’s big blockbusters, beginning with Mulan and Tenet, at the end of July alongside other new releases including Dreambuilders and Unhinged.

Odeon, along with rivals Vue, Picturehouse and Cineworld, announced it was closing all of its UK cinemas on March 17.

But Boris Johnson has now announced that cinemas would be one of the businesses allowed to reopen in England from July 4, as long as they have special measures in place to ensure social distancing and hygiene.

Cinemas in Scotland are able to open from July 15, although no date has been set for Northern Ireland or Wales yet.

Odeon says it has redesigned customers’ experiences to ensure that they and members of staff are kept safe.

Visitors will be able to book online and staff will be conducting contactless ticket checks and taking contactless payments at kiosks to limit touching - meaning you can't use cash at all at the moment.

Pick and mix won't be available for the time being, but the cinemas will offer a range of “grab and go” pre-packaged food and drinks including bottles, Butterkist popcorn and bags of sweets.

There will be limited seats on sale for each show and guaranteed unoccupied seats between guests to meet social distancing requirements, while enabling family groups and social bubbles to sit together.

Staggered show start times will help reduce queues, with safe queuing measures in place, such as floor markings.

Meanwhile, Odeon has serviced its air conditioning to ensure that fresh air can circulate in screens.

Cinemas will also be cleaned more regularly, with hand sanitiser stations available and staff members wearing face coverings and gloves.

Carol Welch, managing director for the UK and Ireland at Odeon, said: “We are excited to confirm that from July 4, our UK cinemas will begin reopening.  

“We’ve carefully planned every step of our guest journey and put safety measures in place that will enable our highly trained colleagues to provide a controlled and safer cinema experience for all our guests.”

Showcase cinema goers have been encouraged to wear face masks when the chain reopens its screens next month.

Cineworld has also revealed what its cinemas will look like from next month.

Here's the full list of businesses opening on July 4.