Cineworld

Cineworld Group is a British cinema company based in London, England. It is the world’s second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States.The group’s primary brands are Cineworld and Picturehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cinema City in Eastern and Central Europe, Yes Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the United States.

As of March 2018, Cineworld was the leading cinema operator in the UK by box office market share (based on revenue). It operated, at that time, 99 cinemas and over 1,017 screens, including Cineworld Dublin—Ireland’s single largest multiplex by screens and customer base.^[Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

On 8 October 2020, Cineworld indefinitely closed its cinemas in the UK, Ireland, and United States, citing the delay of tentpole films due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema. CEO Mooky Greidinger said the cinemas would reopen when more film releases were scheduled.

Cineworld was founded by Steve Wiener in 1995.The first Cineworld theatre opened in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996. A second theatre opened in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in December 1996 and the third opened in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1998. In 2004, Cineworld was acquired by Blackstone private equity group for £120m. The following year, Cineworld acquired the UK and Ireland operations of French cinema company UGC.

In December 2012, Cineworld acquired the Picturehouse Cinema chain, adding 21 cinemas to its portfolio, including The Little Theatre in Bath, Brighton’s Duke of York’s cinema, the Cameo, Edinburgh, the Phoenix in Oxford and the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.

The Blackstone Group, which had invested in Cineworld when it was privately owned, sold its entire remaining 20% shareholding in November 2010.In August 2013, The Guardian revealed that Cineworld employs 80% of its 4,300 staff on zero hour contracts. In October 2013, the Chester location was closed due to the landowner wanting to develop the land into a supermarket.

In 2014, Cineworld’s Picturehouse chain was subject to industrial action owing to its refusal to pay the London living wage to its staff. The workforce attracted the support of Eric Cantona. On 27 February 2014, Cineworld completed the takeover of Cinema City International N.V.. As of March 2015, the Greidinger family (who owned a controlling 54% stake in Cinema City International) held a controlling bloc as the largest shareholders in the enlarged company.

In May 2014, Mooky Greidinger joined the board of directors as CEO, having previously been CEO of Cinema City International.

In 2015, Picturehouse unveiled their new West End flagship site, ‘Picturehouse Central’,  a 1,000 seat, seven-screen cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue near Piccadilly Circus in central London. In August 2016 Cineworld acquired six cinemas from Empire Cinemas, including the Empire Theatre in London’s West End, and 4 other locations in Basildon, Poole, Bromley and Hemel Hempstead. Empire Newcastle was also acquired by Cineworld the following year.

In November 2017, Cineworld began merger talks with the US cinema chain Regal Cinemas. On 5 December, it was officially announced that Cineworld would buy Regal for US$3.6 billion (£2.7 billion), creating the world’s second largest cinema group. It would also allow Cineworld access to the US market, the largest in the world. The acquisition was completed in 2018.

• 

This blog was made by Simon Schofield