FIGURES show 16,600 people have been to watch a film on the new IMAX screen at the National Media Museum since its upgrade in September, a boost of more than double on the same period last year.

The Bradford museum has released figures showing the number of visitors to its new IMAX screen, covering the three and a half months up to December 23. Over the same period in 2014 there were 9,800 cinema goers, equating to a 69 per cent jump in attendance.

Of these viewers, 6,100 people have been to see the new Star Wars film on the giant IMAX screen, despite the film only opening on December 17. A further 6,000 seats have been booked in advance.

The museum's newly-refurbished IMAX cinema began showing The Force Awakens in the early hours of the morning on release day, with some screenings sold out.

Jay Arnold, film business manager at the NMM, said: “The figures are a major endorsement of the effort and investment put into the IMAX upgrade and demonstrate the state-of-the-art cinema is a hit with audiences.

"The digital technology gives us access to many more blockbusters – we could not have screened SPECTRE without it - and the new seating has been much appreciated by customers.

“As for Star Wars - fans are definitely enjoying seeing it on our giant screen, and we’ll just have to wait and see just how successful it ends up being. I have the feeling that it won’t be a case of people asking ‘have you seen The Force Awakens’, but, ‘how many times have you seen it?’.”

Bradford’s IMAX was the first in Europe when it opened in 1983 and is still the biggest screen in Yorkshire, though the new screen is marginally narrower than the one it replaced.

The new 60ft by 48ft screen is part of a £780,000 investment to upgrade the IMAX theatre using a loan from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

A new screen was fitted and a digital projection system as well as improved seats with more leg room as part of the project.

The final showing before work started was at the end of June and the cinema reopened in early September, in time for big releases such as Bond film Spectre and this month's Star Wars instalment.

“This upgrade will be incredibly valuable to us, along with our partnership with Picturehouse Cinemas, in achieving our ambition to help make Bradford the place in Yorkshire to see film,” said NMM director Jo Quinton-Tulloch at the time of the announcement to close the cinema for two months.

“It means more films for us and the city, and a better experience for our audience.”