[2][3][4] The first Odeon cinema was opened by Oscar Deutsch in 1928, in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England, although initially called "Picture House".

The frontage was remodelled following damage sustained during the Second World War and, having been a bingo hall, has since been converted into a conference venue.

In 1932, Deutsch acquired more sites and planned the construction of a chain of cinemas; commissioning Weedon to design his future buildings,[10] with five opening in 1933.

The resulting collection, of internal and external photographs, is held in the public archive of English Heritage and can be seen online.

In 1939, they acquired most of the small UK cinema operations of Paramount Pictures, including key sites in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne.

By 1956, Rank Odeon had expanded to the West Indies, British Malaya and Ceylon and had an interest in 585 cinemas overseas.

It also owned fifty per cent of an Australian subsidiary, Greater Union Organisation, based in Sydney, with dozens of cinemas across Australia.

Many smaller, older cinemas such as Odeon Grimsby on Freeman Street were closed to keep market share within legal limits.

On 31 May 2011, Odeon announced that it had bought back the UCI chain in Ireland (including the Storm Cinemas-branded locations) from Entertainment Enterprises.

[27] In March 2012, the Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group under Terra Firma's control reported a £70 million loss for the year 2011, as posted on Companies House.

[32] On 11 December 2020, Odeon revealed they were losing $125 million a month due to the closure, and that the emergency funds that had been provided were running out.

There remain six "Oscar Deutsch" Odeons in operation:- Bristol (totally rebuilt internally), Exeter, Harrogate, London Leicester Square, Swiss Cottage and Worcester.

In 2008, Odeon, along with rival chain Cineworld, bought back the company and today it is known as Digital Cinema Media.

The company operates a website and mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing customers to book tickets in advance of performances.

They run their own Guest Service Centre, based in Stoke-on-Trent, sharing the building with the cinema, but operating separately.

"Limitless" is a nationwide scheme, which, on a twelve-month contract basis, allows members to see regular (not 3D) screenings as often as they want for a monthly fee.

[38] On 24 August 2012, a customer named Matt Pledger posted a complaint on Odeon's Facebook wall about his experience with the cinema, citing high ticket prices, high food prices, inattentive staff, sound bleeding through from the cinema next door, and displaying adverts on how piracy was killing film.

[39] The complaint eventually went viral, with over 275,000 'Likes' and over 23,000 comments as of 3 September 2012, as well as receiving attention from the national media,[40][41][42] including a programme feature on BBC Radio 4.

[43] On 29 April 2020, Odeon Cinemas, alongside its parent company AMC Theatres, announced a ban on all films distributed by Universal Pictures after the latter announced that it would skip releasing some films in cinemas and distribute them directly on streaming and on-demand services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[44] Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Theatres, said that the ban would apply to all 1,000 outlets worldwide after the coronavirus lockdown.

[44] The dispute was resolved in July 2020, with AMC agreeing that Universal could stream films 17 days after theatrical release.