Was a nuclear bomb too much for Thurso cinema? Oppenheimer audience plunged into darkness at key moment
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A Caithness man talked about the jarring moment at Thurso cinema when the screen flickered and went black just after the atomic bomb test in the latest blockbuster film Oppenheimer.
Glyn Salisbury was watching the new Christopher Nolan thriller about the development of the atomic bomb during World War Two when a key scene played out showing the initial test of a nuclear weapon with an explosive blast on screen.
"After an intense two hours and 30 minutes of Oppenheimer, at a very tense moment, the screen blacked out," recalled Mr Salisbury.
"The lights began to flash on and off. Lots cried out 'oh no'. A lady jumped up and ran out crying, ‘I’m on it’. She came back a few minutes later [saying] there was an electrical fault and the projector would be on again in five minutes. At just over 10 minutes, the boss man came in and explained about a serious electrical fault and that it would be back on in 10 minutes."
Mr Salisbury said that, around half-an-hour later, he learned that the adjoining screen three was off as well and customers were walking out, so the audience in his screen followed suit.
"That’s when we discovered it was a bigger problem as all the front tills were out as well. The boss was handing out re-admission tickets instead of proper tickets as all the tills were down. We left and went for chips on the sea front."
Mr Salisbury said he really enjoyed the three-quarters of the film he saw and noted how the problem started "just after they had finished testing the bomb and were congratulating everybody".
He jokingly said that perhaps "an em pulse knocked everything out" in reference to the electromagnetic pulse emanating from a nuclear explosion which can severely destroy or disrupt communications and electric power systems.
Sam Jappy, general manager at Merlin Cinema in Thurso, was on duty when the breakdown occurred.
"Regrettably, yes, we had a partial power failure to the building at around 7pm on Monday evening, followed by a full power cut around an hour later," he explained.
"Our ethos at Merlin Cinemas is very much 'the show must go on', so we did everything we could to get some shows restarted, while we still had power. We’re very grateful to all our patrons for their patience and good humour while we worked to get the projectors back up and running."
However, as SSE engineers were about to start investigating the fault, the power completely cut off. The engineers informed the cinema that the fault was external to the building, and would take some hours to resolve. "Sadly, at this point we were forced to fall back to our emergency power-cut procedures, and issue everyone with re-admission tickets for a later show of their choice," said the cinema manager.
He added that these type of incidents are "exceptionally rare" and it was "a real shame" it happened on such a busy night.
"We’re so sorry for the disappointment caused to everyone enjoying their evening at the pictures, and in particular to all the families in the audience for Barbie.
"We were not aware until later, the power cut ironically occurred just after the bomb test sequence in Oppenheimer. We could certainly forgive the audience for initially thinking this was a bit of extra realism added by the film-maker!"
Oppenheimer and Barbie going head-to-head have given UK cinemas one of their busiest weekends for years, including at Merlin Thurso. Mr Jappy says that with the power issues now resolved, he can reassure the public that both films will be screening in Thurso for weeks to come, so there will be plenty of opportunity to catch them on the big screen this summer.
More information on Merlin Thurso film screenings and times can be found at: thurso.merlincinemas.co.uk/
Oppenheimer is described by critics as an epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the "pulse-pounding paradox" of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. The film follows the turbulent life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, an accomplished theoretical physicist who became the father of the atomic bomb. It stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr.
