Features

Superheroes Assemble to Save Curzon Soho!

Soho’s top independent bookshop​ ​Gosh! Comics​ and the UK’s leading independent graphic novel publisher ​SelfMadeHero​ ​have joined the campaign to ​Save Curzon Soho​ and supported the creation of a SAVE CURZON SOHO mural in the Curzon Soho cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue.

The mural was designed and executed by leading comic artists and illustrators ​Krent Able​ and ​JAKe​, who put together a superteam of cinema and TV heroes to help protect Curzon Soho from the developers who want to knock it down. The mural depicts figures including Batman, Barbarella, Django, Princess Leia, Toshiro Mifune, Peter O’Toole, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes standing in front of Curzon Soho to stop the wrecking ball and flying the flag of independent cinema.

You can watch the timelpase video of the mural’s creation below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bswhGiwJgSY&feature=youtu.be

Curzon Cinemas Marketing Manager Irene Musumeci said: “we are delighted to be joined in our fight to preserve our iconic cinema by Krent Able and JAKe alongside Gosh! and SelfMadeHero. Our campaign is about preserving the hub of London creativity that is Soho with Curzon Soho at the heart of it. It’s great to see that support for the cinema comes not just from filmmakers and film fans but also from all artists in London.”

Artists Krent Able and JAKe said: “It’s a crying shame that another well-­loved Soho landmark is being threatened, so we jumped at the chance to help. What would happen if the developers were met by a glowering samurai, a dark knight and a tooled up superteam of the silver screen’s most badass icons? Let’s prove that the pen ( and paintbrush ) is mightier than the wrecking ball.”

Gosh! Comics founder and owner Josh Palamano, said: ”Gosh! is embedded in the heart of the Soho community, so we are proud to lend our support the local institution that is Curzon Soho.”

Curzon Soho is an icon of independent cinema in London and has recently been declared a ‘surface of interest’ by developers, meaning that the much­loved cinema could be destroyed to make way for Crossrail 2 building works. Save Curzon Soho is the ongoing campaign to save Curzon Soho from demolition.

Notable supporters of the Save Curzon Soho campaign so far include Stephen Fry, Derren Brown, Viv Albertine, Kirsty Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Danny Boyle.

About Save Curzon Soho http://www.curzonblog.com/savecurzonsoho/
The online petition to Save Curzon Soho http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save­the­curzon­soho
The wider online petition to Save Soho http://savesoho.com/

@CURZONCINEMAS @CURZONSOHO @GOSHCOMICS @SELFMADEHERO

Artists: @jakedetonator // @krentable

Make sure you show your support in the Save Curzon Soho campaign! Let us know in the comments section or send us a Tweet!

About the author

Fred McNamara