Early on in construction, cinema executives from around the world visited to see what was being built.
Mr Wesoky recalled: “The Point was the stepping stone of everything that happened – not only in the UK, but going forward for the international market in the cinema development of multiplexes.”
Some were doubtful of success. A head of a major competitor told him The Point would never meet objectives and the company would go bankrupt.
A builder made a £5 wager with Mr Ochs that they would never fill the 2,000 seats he had just installed.
At the time, the highest attendance record in a year was 500,000, at a cinema in Leicester Square. AMC set a goal of 720,000.
Within the first year, the target was exceeded, with admissions hitting 1,064,000.
Mr Ochs said: “On the first Saturday of the first week at the 20:00 hour, all 2,000 seats were full. I still have the £5 note and it’s framed, to remind myself that sometimes things work.”
After The Point opened, and other multiplexes were built, cinema attendances started to rise each year before peaking at 179 million in 2019, just before the Covid pandemic.