Cineworld more than doubled profits today but reckons 2015 will be even stronger thanks to the new Bond film Spectre, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 and the latest in the Star Wars franchise.
The company, which last year merged with eastern European business Cinema City, will this year open three more branches of its arty cinema chain Picturehouse in London, including its first multiplex with seven screens and three bars at the Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus.
The new openings, in east Dulwich in April, in Crouch End in October, and the Trocadero over summer, come as Britain’s biggest cinema operator saw pre-tax profit hit £67.3 million last year.
That was despite finance boss Philip Bowcock saying “2014 was not the easiest year for film.”
Big draws included The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lego Movie and Paddington but there were no major blockbusters and Britons deserted cinemas to watch the World Cup.
Britons are feeling more confident: the popcorn index of discretionary spending rose almost 6%.
“A lot of that came through Starbucks sales [in cinemas],” Bowcock said.
