Callao Cinemas / Callao City Lights

Located in the central Plaza de Callao, the busiest pedestrian square in Spain and the third busiest in Europe, in an Art Deco building constructed in 1926 by Luis Gutiérrez Soto and originally opened as a cinema, the Callao Cinemas are managed by Callao City Lights. They have two screens and a capacity for over 1,200 spectators. Spectacular 3D images are also projected on their exterior screens! These cinemas host many of the most important premieres, shows, and events held in the city. Its facades feature two large-format digital screens (102 m2 and 130 m2 respectively) equipped with the latest technological advances, such as augmented reality, which allows interaction with the public in the square. The cinema was inaugurated as a movie theater on December 11, 1926, with the screening of the film ‘Luis Candelas, the Bandit of Madrid’. Callao Cinemas was the first cinema in Spain to screen a sound film, ‘The Jazz Singer’, on June 13, 1929, and also the first film shot in Spanish in Hollywood, ‘Body of the Crime’, on May 21, 1930. Furthermore, the first color film in Spain premiered there in 1935, and the first 3D film in 1953. With the management of the cinemas by Callao City Lights has also become a multipurpose space that can be customized according to the needs of the event it hosts. 3D arrives at Plaza de Callao. Those passing through Plaza de Callao can enjoy the amazing 3D images shown on the exterior screens of the Callao cinemas, a visual experience previously only possible in places like Times Square in New York or Piccadilly Circus in London.