Pongrácz Erzsébet: The Cinemas of Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)
Cineplex Odeon Multimovie 131 Szerxtmihályi út, district XV Hollywood Multiplex 178 Váci út, district XIII Cineplex Odeon and Hollywood Multiplex are housed respectively in the Pólus Center and Duna Plaza shopping centres. Both aim at providing quality entertainment for those wishing to combine shopping with a family programme. The comfortable auditoria, the high-tech equipment and, last but not least, the films screened are all meant to help attain that goal. Both multi-cinemas were designed to satisfy the most demanding audiences, which is why they have rapidly become familiar, popular features of the shopping and entertainment complexes housing them. Corvin Budapest Film Palace (1922) 1 Coruin köz, district VIII The ugly, empty plot at the corner of József körút and üllői út, opposite the barracks of the 32nd army unit, was a real eyesore at the beginning of the century. The place was popularly known as the Gschwindt-plot, after its owner. It was only after the Great War that the dream of the neighbourhood came true and a cinema was erected here. Following a survey and division of the plot in the early autumn of 1921, construction work soon started. The faqade of the fine new building was decorated with reliefs by József Róna. In the middle was a portrait of King Matthias Corvinus flanked on each side by a scene from his life. On the left the king is depicted amidst scientists and artists, while on the right the burgers of Vienna are shown surrendering to the Hungarian ruler. The Corvin is a rare Budapest cinema in that it has retained its original name through all historical periods. It opened on 22 November 1922 as the most impressive cinema in contemporary Budapest, with the largest auditorium admitting up to 1200 people and, in the heyday of the silent film, with room for a thirty-two-member orchestra. At the moment of its birth the Corvin was already “the first to introduce innovations in the field of cinematography” (Az Est Hármaskönyue). Needless to say, it was 42
