CINEMA fans have the chance to win tickets to a charity screening at the Rex Cinema in Wilmslow two days before it opens on December 21.

Sophie and Louis Mundin announced the long-awaited opening date of the cinema at today’s Christmas lights switch-on in the town.

They helped to turn on the festive lights and thanked the townspeople for their amazing support for the reopening of the long-closed cinema.

Sophie told the record crowd at the switch-on: “I would like to say a really big thankyou to everyone in Wilmslow for your amazing support.

“We are so excited to get the Rex back open and the films on the big screen in Wilmslow where they belong.”

The cinema is due to reopen four days before Christmas, on Friday, December 21, when it will show Mary Poppins Returns, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Grinch, Fantastic Beasts and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Two days before the opening there will be a screening of The Greatest Showman, to which people can win tickets.

Each entry will cost £5, for the chance to win a pair of tickets, with the proceeds going to the Wilmslow Aid Trust.

The draw details are due to be on the cinema’s website – rexcinemawilmslow.com - next week.

Louis told the Guardian at the switch-on: “The turnout has been incredible.

“The response we have had today and throughout the entire renovation has been amazing. People are really desperate to have the Rex back.”

Louis said film screening and booking details would be live on the website from the first week of December.

The Rex first opened in 1936 with a screening of Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, and closed 23 years ago, in 1995, with a screening of An Awfully Big Adventure.

Cllr Angela McPake, chairman of the town council events group, said: "We were delighted with the way the event went.

"A dry night definitely helped us get a record attendance, as did combining the switch-on with the artisan market. The new location also proved a success.

"It was lovely that Father Christmas and his reindeer were able to join us, and the local school and adult choirs were brilliant.

"Sophie, Louis and five-month-old Hugo Mundin received a rapturous welcome on the stage, and the plans for the Rex opening sound amazing.

"We hope this is the start of a successful festive season for all the traders in the town."

The lights switch-on took place a week earlier than in previous years to coincide with the Artisan Market, which had a special Christmas theme.

The Real Reindeer Parade was the centrepiece of proceedings when it set off from Bank Square at 4pm and made its way to the Library Garden taking in the Market and Hoopers.