Cineworld Group is a UK-based chain of movie theaters and cinema-oriented services headquartered in Brentwood, the UK. It was founded in 1995 by Steve Weiner and has seen explosive growth in the time since. The company’s original screen was expanded to 2 locations within a year and to hundreds of screens by the mid-1990s.
In 1995 the company was taken private by Blackrock which took the company to international markets. After several major acquisitions, the company was fully divested and public again by 2010. The next few years were busy with major acquisitions in 2012 (Picturehouse) and then again in 2014 (Cinema City International).
The company was making headlines again in 2017 when it agreed to buy Regal Cinemas. The purchase opened access to the US market and grew the company to 2nd position in regards to the annual cinema business. It was completed in 2018. Cineworld is listed on the London Stock Exchange where it has been trading since 2007.
Today, Cineworld Group plc engages in the cinema business worldwide. It is the largest cinema in the UK, hosts several of the largest cinemas in the region, and lays claim to more than 9100 screens worldwide. As of 2022, the company operated 751 sites in 10 countries including the UK, Ireland, Canada and the US. Other areas of operation include Israel, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
The company’s cinema operations provide movies in 7 different formats including 2D, 3D, 4DX, Superscreen, IMAX, VIP and ScreenX. ScreenX is among the latest movie formats and is a panoramic view. Brands under the company’s umbrella of operations include Regal, United Artists, Edwards Theaters, Cineworld, Picturehouse, and Cinema City among others. There are 511 cinemas in the US, 128 in the UK and Ireland, and the rest are spread throughout eastern Europe and Israel. Regal is the largest brand by far and is 75% of the total.
The company’s other operations include financing, managing, and leasing cinema real estate, retail sales, and film distribution. Total sales in 2021 topped $1.8 billion or more than in 2019, the pre-pandemic period. Sales were centered in the US at 68% of the net. The UK and Ireland accounted for 19% while the rest of the world was the remainder of the business. Broken down by channels, Box Office was about 53% of revenue while Concessions were 36% and Other was 16%.
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