Curtain falls on pop-up cinema
A POPUP Christmas cinema due to take over an old Manchester market hall has been cancelled.
A Magical Christmas Movie Experience was set to take place at Upper Campfield Market on Deansgate this weekend, with screenings of festive favourites including Elf and Love Actually scheduled from tomorrow to Sunday.
Now organisers have announced it will no longer go ahead, blaming ‘circumstances outside of our control.’
Apologising to ticket holders and promising refunds, they said in a statement: “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused by this cancellation. We exhausted all avenues to ensure the show could go ahead as planned. However, due to unforeseen issues that arose, we cannot guarantee the event will meet our very high standards.
“We appreciate how expensive Christmas can be and we wouldn’t feel comfortable proceeding with an event if it wasn’t perfect. With this in mind, we feel the fairest thing to do is to refund all tickets purchased. We always want our guests to have the best time at our shows and if we cannot guarantee 100% perfection, we don’t feel it would be fair to proceed.”
The event, which took place at Mayfield Depot last year, was advertised as an immersive experience, with a live choir singing carols, a Narnia-inspired winter forest setting, a street food hall and a bar.
Refunds have already been processed, organisers said, promising that the money should appear back in customers’ bank accounts within five to seven working days.
The news was met with disappointment, but also understanding, on social media. One ticket holder wrote on Facebook: “Aw absolutely gutted. It was so good last year, so understand the decision if you knew you couldn’t meet those standards. Fingers crossed for next year!”
Another added: “So sorry but totally understand your decision, here’s to the next one.”
Anyone with questions can email hello@magicalchristmasmovie experience.com.