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My wife dropped a couple of the modular the other day. In the rebuild, the Palace Cinema was renovated into an IMAX. It moved to a 48x48 baseplate and the second floor was also made 4 bricks taller. The screen area is now large enough to hold a (non-LEGO, gasp!) Kindle FIRE HD or iPad Mini, which can play the Lego Movie when it comes out on video.

The movie posters are not finished but I will be adding some movie posters of actual Lego movie releases. I was able to locate a red 48x48 baseplate and will be moving the entire model over this weekend to the new plate.

Attached is photo that shows the theater next to my daughter's pet shop that has also been upsized. I will document that in another thread so I can reach 10 posts to be able to email another user about getting K-boxes from the PAB system. No LEGO stores in my area, unfortunately.

post-123195-0-96348800-1396653642_thumb.jpg

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I have no idea where it comes from. I bought 2 on bricklink. Didn't see anywhere they have been released but they must have made a special run and somehow they made it into the wild. I saw clear 48x48 baseplates as well but they are uber expensive.

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Nice idea, looks great. Making the upper floor taller adds a lot to it. :thumbup:

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Colorful 48x48 stud baseplates were included with the (now-discontinued, at least in the U.S.A) official Lego 3-seat building table. The trefoil-like design had one side red, one blue, and one yellow - so each had its own same-colored large baseplate. Hope this bit of trivia helps!

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Other than where baseplates are entirely visible (e.g. blue baseplates to represent water) I don't quite see how baseplate color is relevant. I just use whatever is on hand..

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Other than where baseplates are entirely visible (e.g. blue baseplates to represent water) I don't quite see how baseplate color is relevant. I just use whatever is on hand..

The baseplate in the PC does not have tile inside as it represents the carpet color. To tile the entire inside would be a hell of a lot of tiles.

I will bring my good camera home and take some more pictures tonight.

Edited by mrpoindexter

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Looks great! It's nice to turn a dropped modular into something that is better than it ever was! I would love to see the interior and that GE you are working on.

Brick on!

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I created a flicker account and posted some better photos there. For some reason, I cannot link them here or paste a link. Perhaps I need to have more posts before I can do that?

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Mike, very nice job with this!! It's the best scale to reality to date of a movie palace modular.

The real life movie palaces have a main floor lobby and and auditorium the full height of the building. Above the lobby is a balcony on the old movie palaces. Also (and you have this better than anyone)... the entire projection area really should be minimized. No one ever sees the projection area in a true movie palace... it's only ever a couple of square glass cubes in an upper back wall.

And as for a candy counter... well old time movie palaces did NOT have candy counters. Movie palaces frowned on drinks and snacks in the auditorium. It helps explain why old movie palaces have so few restrooms... big gulps were not around back then! It wasn't until the 1940s that theatres started having candy and refreshment counters.

So if you made a theatre with only a lobby and main floor seating, and a balcony above the lobby (with just some square holes in the back wall for a not-seen projection room)... facing a tall screen with a Procenium (an arch that frames the stage and screen)... then you would be way more authentic by far, than the original concept of the Palace Theatre.

I'm a historic theatre buff, and give tours of old movie theatres in downtown Detroit, such as the over the top 5,174 seat Detroit Fox theatre...

https://www.flickr.c...m&safe_search=1

So these are just some tips on making the Palace Theatre look like a 1920s theatre (which the exterior building design copies).

Edited by LEGO Historian

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Gary, wow, long time no talk. I am guessing it has been perhaps 15 years. I understand, but I also see a lot of drawbacks on historic theaters as I am a huge movie buff. While the exterior is more in line with the movie palaces of the golden age, I also know that often modern architecture tries to capture a retro look, a la Johnny Rocket’s.

The addition of surround sound places this theater well into the modern era. I did try to get the screen to be more proportionate to the 2.39:1 CinemaScope one would typically see in a modern theater, which also makes this not really an IMAX type of presentation.

Balconies are something that is not seen in modern movie houses, as that has been replaced by true stadium seating, which I have incorporated. Also, the screening rooms are not upstairs for both cost and sound containment reasons, but there are limitations to the scale I can build this with a total ground floor presentation. Also, having windows in the screening room is a no-no for theaters in any era but the façade would look much more plain without them and also it allows people to see into the screening room without removing the roof.

There was a better LEGO theater I saw on the net that would fit a modular format on two 32x32 baseplates. I don’t recall who had it but it was called Monde Cinema and an awesome art deco build.

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^Monde Cinema was a truly unique and awe inspiring creation. But it is not to scale with the other Modulars, so you can't really incorporate that into your layout.

However, I do like the idea of having that wide of a movie theater to have the viewing room on the main floor. The question becomes, without the viewing room on the second level, what would go there? You could easily keep the windows in place then, but I wouldn't know what type of business would be suitable above a movie theater. Plus you would want a separate entrance then, which might look weird with the current facade.

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Wow Mike... I didn't realize it was THEE Mike Poindexter... :sweet: Long time indeed!

Yes, I'm a "purist" when it comes to old style movie theatres. Yes, many of the new theatres incorporated stadium seating to help greate that old theatre experience. Many of the old movie palaces later had extra theatres inserted in the former (usually cavernous) auditoriums. Having an old theatre balcony walled off and often "twinned" was a way to turn a 1 screen theatre into several screens. Of course most of these changes have since been reversed as so many of the old theaters have returned as performing arts centers.

You are correct, no old or new theatre would have windows... only public multifunction auditoriums do.

Good to hear from you again Mike!! :wink:

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Nice MOD. I feel the proportions of this build are much more realistic for a cinema than what the current palace cinema offers. It should give a lot more scope for a grander lobby as well!

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And there is the genius behind the Monde Cinema. I certainly have to step my game up here to get my interior to the level that yours is. I might even scratch build something using yours as an inspiration but I just don't have the breadth and depth of a parts collection yet to be able to pull off that level of detail on such a scale. Heck, I had to bricklink parts just to complete an upsize even with 2 sets. Besides, when it comes to movie palaces, you need two relatively close to each other, right? Just like a Walgreens located right across the corners from a Rite-Aid and CVS or a cluster of fast food restaurants or hotels next to each other.

I would not mind seeing more variance in scale/scope of some modular buildings. Certainly, a coffee shop should not be close to the same size as a hotel. Perhaps TLG can release 16x32, 32x32 and 48x48 or 32x64 sized modules and add some additional variety into the layouts.

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^I like the idea of different sized modular buildings. But if the rumor is true that town hall isn't selling well because of the price, I don't think they would release any more larger scale buildings in the future. That includes slightly shorter, but wider buildings.

Edited by TheLegoDr

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I also Modded my two Palace Cinema's into one larger building... Some work on the roof and interior has to be done..but it looks great.. i personally like the sign on the side of the building and on the pavement.... 14056505601_70ac202251_b.jpg14056505831_6fc9a7ee38_b.jpg

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I MODded my two cinemas to 32x32, but 40x40 is better. The extra dark tan arch section over the theater windows makes a better impression than my single one.

When I next get around to rearranging my City, I think I will increase the Cinema size again and put it onto a 48x48.

Some of the modular series just work so much better when they are just that much bigger, mainly the GE and PC.

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I MODded my two cinemas to 32x32, but 40x40 is better. The extra dark tan arch section over the theater windows makes a better impression than my single one.

When I next get around to rearranging my City, I think I will increase the Cinema size again and put it onto a 48x48.

Some of the modular series just work so much better when they are just that much bigger, mainly the GE and PC.

I'm now figuring out if it would look good raising the second floor with one or two bricks......

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