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Cineworld, the London-focused cinema chain with seven screens in Piccadilly's Trocadero Centre, said bargain-hunting Britons helped it post an 18% increase in revenue to £161.9 million for the three months to July.
The UK's second-largest cinema group has grabbed market share with money-saving deals including “Bargain Tuesdays” and two-for-one entry on “Orange Wednesdays”. The success of the two discount days helped Cineworld report an increase in pre-tax profit to £11.6 million, from £8.7 million for the same period last year.
Movies including surprise hit Slumdog Millionaire and Star Trek also helped put more bums on seats.
Admissions were up 18% and box office takings rose 24% compared with the same period last year — the latter boosted by the average £1.67 premium on seats at Cineworld's 3D screens. However the cinema group — which is the market leader in showing Bollywood films — was hit by an industry strike in India which caused delays in release dates and pushed total UK revenues for the films down 60%.
Chief executive Stephen Wiener was optimistic, saying the best could be still to come this year, as the next quarter sees the December release of James Cameron's Avatar, which Wiener billed as “a contender for the biggest film of all time”.
Wiener said: “It's been a great quarter, but the next could be even better. Alongside Avatar, we're expecting animated movie Up to be the most popular Pixar film ever.
“Our investment in digital is already bearing fruit. We are the market leaders in 3D and, while it is still early days, the return on investment so far has been very encouraging.”
Reader views (1)
What you don't read here is the extortionate price increases in seat prices and "ancillary products" i.e. popcorn, etc. THAT is the REAL reason for the "boost"
- Michael Spencer, Toronto, Canada, 20/08/2009 17:15
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