The Movieum at County Hall on London’s Southbank has always been seen as a bit of a tacky tourist attraction, alongside the Sea Life Centre, Dali Museum and the London Eye. However the attraction has just been rebranded as the London Film Museum, with a new programme and a much more serious target audience.

With snazzy new logos designed by illustrator Radim Malinic (above pic) and a yet to be completed move from the old Movieum Website to a new London Film Museum Site this is promising news. For the oldies among you many may remember that London Southbank once hosted the brilliant MOMI (Museum of the Moving Image) which had great film exhibits and items but was closed down in 1999 and reopened in 2007 as the BFI Southbank as we know now it, a wonderful attraction but with only a small part of the site dedicated to a regularly changing exhibition but lacking a permanent collection of national screen heritage that the old MOMI featured. Hopefully the National Film Centre funding the BFI received this year may create a space for these items to be shown again to the public but in the meantime the rebranding of the Movieum is a positive step forward to showcasing items of British Film History.

The rebranding involves new exhibitions on British screen icons such as Harry Potter, and Sherlock Holmes as well as a new permanent exhibition on Charlie Chaplin, titled Charlie Chaplin – The Great Londoner. The proof that they are going for a more serious MOMI style approach can be found here as this exhibition was devised by MOMI’s creator Leslie Hardcastle. Examining Chaplin as a  Londoner the exhibition looks at the various stages of his career from his Lambeth childhood to his Hollywood fame and includes many original pieces of merchandise and film memorabilia.

The London Film Museum is open Mon – Fri 10am – 5pm, Sat & Sun 10am – 6pm. Tickets are £12 for adults, and £8 for children.