It’s official: the fourth greatest cinema in the world is in London

These days, there’s an enormous bank of movies that we can stream from the comfort of our own homes at the touch of a button. But there’s still nothing like sitting back in a soft red chair, grabbing a cardboard tub of warm popcorn and watching a great film in a cinema. So, to celebrate those movie meccas, Time Out’s global film editor Phil de Semlyen, with the help of some of some other kino lovers from from around the world, has put together a list of the greatest cinemas on the planet right now. 

Our roundup features a Berlin cinema with its own nuclear bunker, a Canadian theatre with just 12 seats, an open-air screen in Greece and a huge art-deco palace in India. Naturally, there are plenty of London cinemas on the list too. The capital’s top ranked kino was BFI Southbank, which landed in fourth place.

Formerly the National Film Theatre, the cinema nestled beneath Waterloo Bridge became the BFI in 2007 and is a paradise for every serious film lover. It’s four screens are open seven days a week, showing hyped new releases alongside restored classics and slept-on gems from every corner of the globe and every year it hosts a range of niche and blockbuster festivals, from Woman With A Movie Camera and the Short Film Festival to BFI Flare (the largest LGBQ+ film festival in the UK), and of course the biggest of them all, the London Film Festival. 

There’s also the library of film publications and the ‘Mediatheque’, a room full of crescent-shaped couches where you can delve into the archive of British film and TV treasures and a year-round programme of Q&As with some of the world’s leading filmmakers. 

Movie buffs aged 16 to 25 can access £4 tickets at the BFI and there’s a £39 annual membership that gets you priority booking, up to £2.50 off tickets for you and up to four guests and access to exclusive monthly events. You can give the BFI extra support by buying your next gift from its small but mighty store. Inside, you’ll find everything from director shaped candles to The Shining socks. 

A dozen cinemas from the Big Smoke made it onto the final list. After the BFI Southbank, Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square was the capital’s next top-ranked spot in eighth place, followed by the nearby Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly Circus in 15th place. 

Every London cinema featured in Time Out’s top 100 in the world 

Here are all of the city’s kinos that made the cut in our latest ranking of the greatest cinemas on the planet. 

See our full list of the 100 greatest cinemas in the world for 2026 here. 

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