Cineworld

Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc
Type Public (LSECINE)
Industry Leisure, Entertainment & Refreshments
Founded 1995
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Key people Anthony Bloom
(Chairman)
Stephen Wiener
(Chief Executive)
Website http://www.cineworldplc.com

Cineworld Group plc (LSECINE) is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Jersey. The chain consists of 78 cinemas; 76 of which are located in the UK and one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with 801 screens, and the owner of the single largest multiplex by screens and customer base in Ireland. Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK. Based on the number of screens, the biggest Cineworld cinema is at Valley Centertainment in Sheffield with 20 screens.[1][2]

Contents

History

The first Cineworld opened in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996, with its second cinema opening up in Shrewsbury, Shropshire in November 1998 which was purpose-built. Since then it has taken over the UK and Ireland operations of the French cinema company UGC. In July 2005 it began integrating the two chains, taking the opportunity to introduce a new company logotype (with a shortened name, "Cineworld Cinemas"). Cineworld retained the UGC Unlimited Card (taken from Virgin Cinemas originally) and the UGC in-house magazine, also called Unlimited. The re-branding process of the former UGC cinemas was completed in September 2005, and as of April 2006 the company's websites and booking lines were merged into one combined service at cineworld.co.uk and the Cineworld Ireland site was completed in late 2007 at cineworld.ie As part of the merger with the former UGC brand the Office of Fair Trading announced that Cineworld must divest itself of six of its locations: Bishop's Stortford, Ealing, Slough, Sunderland, Swindon and Wigan. These have now been sold to and re-branded as Empire Cinemas. The Cineworld Birmingham — Great Park site was also later sold to Empire Cinemas and rebranded by the end of 2006, leaving Cineworld with 71 sites in total.

The Blackstone Group invested in Cineworld in 2004 when it was privately owned, and remained the largest shareholder in Cineworld Group PLC until it sold its entire remaining 20% shareholding in November 2010.[3]

As part of further developments, plans have been made to build more Cineworld sites. In time, older original Cineworld sites will gain the newer logo types (Cineworld Cinemas) as they undergo refurbishment (refurbishment will also be carried out at older former UGC sites as required, although the re-branding is basically already done).

Subscription service

Cineworld offers a subscription service using a membership card - the "Unlimited Card" - which provides subscribers with unlimited entrance for a set price per month. It is the only type of cinema subscription service available in the UK, Ireland and Jersey. The card has a minimum subscription period of 12 months. Admission to 3D features incurs an additional fee of £1.50, and does not include the cost of 3D glasses. Tickets can only be acquired using the unlimited card on the day of the film is to be shown. During the summer of 2011, new customers who signed up to the unlimited card would receive the 13th month of subscription free.

Gallery

Current locations

Site Screens Origin Notes
Aberdeen — Queens Links 9 UGC
Aberdeen — Union Square 10 Cineworld Opened 30 October 2009. All screens use digital projection although 3 screens can facilitate 35mm film also.
Ashford 12 Cineworld
Ashton-under-Lyne 14 Cineworld
Bedford 6 UGC
BirminghamBroad Street 12 UGC
Bradford 16 Cineworld
Freeport, Braintree 12 Cineworld
Brighton 8 UGC
Bristol 14 Cineworld 12 screens operational
Boldon Colliery 11 UGC
Bolton 15 UGC
Burton upon Trent 9 Cineworld
Bury St Edmunds 8 Cineworld
Cardiff 15 UGC
Cambridge 9 Cineworld
Castleford 14 Cineworld
Cheltenham 11 Cineworld
Chester 6 UGC
Chesterfield 10 Cineworld
Chichester 10 Cineworld
Crawley 15 UGC
Didcot 5 Cineworld Chain's first non-box office site operating with a dual retail-ticket system
Dublin (Republic of Ireland) 17 UGC
Dundee 9 UGC
Eastbourne 6 UGC
Edinburgh 13 UGC
Falkirk 12 Cineworld
GlasgowParkhead 7 UGC
Glasgow — Renfrew Street 18 UGC The world's tallest cinema
Gloucester 6 UGC
Harlow 6 UGC
Haverhill 5 Cineworld Opened 10 October 2008. Is the first site to use full customer automated ticketing system.
High Wycombe 12 Cineworld
Kingston upon Hull 9 UGC
Huntingdon 10 Cineworld
Ipswich 11 Virgin Opened 1st May 1998. All 11 screens now have digital projection with 6 also having Real-D 3D. Some screens still have 35 mm. When first opened this had 3 THX screens (sadly nolonger certified).
Llandudno Junction 9 Cineworld
Liverpool 8 UGC
LondonBexleyheath 9 Cineworld
London — Chelsea 4 UGC
London — Enfield 15 UGC
London — Feltham 14 Cineworld
London — Fulham Road 6 UGC
London — Hammersmith 4 UGC
London — The Haymarket 3 UGC
London — Ilford 11 Cineworld
London — The O2, Greenwich 11 Vue Cineworld Group Plc won a 25 year contract to operate The O2 multiplex from Friday 25 June 2010[4]
London — Shaftesbury Avenue 7 UGC
London — Staples Corner 6 UGC
London — Wandsworth 14 Cineworld
London — West India Quay 10 UGC
London — Wood Green 12 Cineworld
Luton 11 Cineworld
Manchester Didsbury, Parrs Wood 11 UGC
Middlesbrough 11 UGC
Milton Keynes 16 Cineworld
Newport (Isle Of Wight) 11 Cineworld
Newport 13 UGC
Nottingham 14 UGC
Northampton 9 UGC
Rochester 9 UGC
Rugby 9 Cineworld
Runcorn 10 Cineworld
SheffieldValley Centertainment 20 UGC Cinema with most screens in the chain.
Shrewsbury 8 Cineworld Opened November 1998.
Solihull 9 Cineworld
Southampton 5 UGC
St. Helens 11 Cineworld
St. Helier (Jersey) 10 Cineworld
Stevenage 16 Cineworld
Stockport - Grand Central Stockport 10 UGC
Swindon 7 UGC
Wakefield 9 Cineworld
Weymouth 9 Cineworld
Witney 5 Cineworld Opened 30 October 2009. All screens use digital projection although 2 screens can facilitate 35mm film also.
Wolverhampton 14 Cineworld
Yeovil 10 Cineworld

Future Cineworld Cinemas

Site Screens Notes
Aldershot 7 Opening 2012.
Hinckley 5 Opening 2014.
Leigh 7 Anticipated to open in 2011.[5]
London — Wembley City 9 Located adjacent to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena, this site is scheduled to open in 2013.[6]
Macclesfield 8 Opening 2012.
Preston 9 To be an anchor tenant of the Preston Tithebarn redevelopment.[7]
St Neots 7 Opening 2012.[8]
Telford 11 Announced as part of the Southwater development.

Former Cineworld / UGC locations

The following locations were sold to Empire Cinemas.

Site Screens Origin Notes
BirminghamGreat Park 13 UGC
Bishop's Stortford 6 Cineworld
Ealing 3 UGC Now closed by Empire Cinemas since early 2009 for "redevelopment"
Sunderland 12 Cineworld
Slough 10 UGC
Swindon — Greenbridge 12 Cineworld Swindon was the only place to have a UGC & Cine-UK therefore had two Cineworld Cinemas for a brief time.
Wigan 11 UGC

Unlimited Magazine

Unlimited Magazine (formerly known as Cineworld Magazine 2004-2005, Unlimited 2005-2007 & Cineworld Unlimited 2007-2011) is a cinema magazine which was launched in early 2004 to start the cinema magazine generation[citation needed]. It's free in all Cineworlds. A Bollywood spin-off called Cineworld Unlimited Bollywood was launched in mid 2007 and was discontinued in mid 2008 as it did not gain much attention. It returned as a feature in the main Cineworld Unlimited magazine.

Movies for Juniors

Movies for Juniors is a special offer exclusive to Cineworld Cinemas that hosts three selected films on Saturday mornings.

A previous sponsor for this offer was Kandoo. The current sponsor is Aquafresh.

On 1 July 2009, it was announced that Woolworths.co.uk would sponsor Movies for Juniors for the rest of 2009. To support this, Woolworths.co.uk advertisements would be shown for all performances at Cineworld Cinemas. Families who regularly attend Movies for Juniors, are able to register as a V.I.F. (Very Important Family), so that they can see selected films for free. The usual cost is £1 per person.

Bolton, Falkirk, Ipswich, Liverpool, Northampton, Wandsworth and Wakefield Cineworlds host Movies for Juniors on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Ashton Under Lyne Cineworld hosts Movies for Juniors on a Saturday morning only at the usual cost of £1 per ticket. [9]

Fun and games are available at selected Cineworlds before the films commence. These usually take place in a bigger auditorium because of popularity ratings.

Criticism

Cineworld is the only cinema chain in the United Kingdom to operate a 'strict no food and drink policy'[10] on items that have been bought elsewhere.[11]

In 2008, a customer was thrown out of a Cineworld cinema after being searched by a security guard who found a bag of sweets.[12] Consequently customers have to buy food and drink at the cinema despite price of food and drink items have been found to be four times higher than elsewhere[13] at Cineworld. Other criticism towards the chain is it's unwavering support of 3D technology and in some sites it has been noted that for a whole week there is no option of 2D versions of films, forcing customers who either cannot or don't want to watch 3D films having to avoid screenings. Due to the general public starting to turn it's back on 3D films because of the huge price of tickets and general poor quality of 3D technology,[14] commentators have voiced concerns that Cineworld jumped on the 3D bandwagon too soon [15] [16]

References

  1. ^ Cineworld PLC | About Us
  2. ^ Licensing.biz | Big name films boost Cineworld
  3. ^ "Blackstone Completes Sale of Remaining Stake in Cineworld". Press release. The Blackstone Group. http://www.cineworldplc.com/download/media/Placing_of_Blackstone_Shares.pdf. Retrieved 4 January 2011. 
  4. ^ Cineworld to operate O2 multiplex | Digital Look
  5. ^ Leigh town centre plans approved
  6. ^ Cineworld Group plc to partner with Quintain Estates and Development plc
  7. ^ Cineworld signs at Preston scheme
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Current Cineworld Ashton Employee that has been there three years and only known the Movies for Juniors on Saturdays. Also, all Ashton Under Lyne time leaflets havr "Sa Only" after their film times in the M4J section.
  10. ^ "Cineworld Cinemas - FAQ". http://www.cineworld.co.uk/faq. Retrieved 9 July 2011. "Can I bring in my own food and drink? - Cineworld have a strict NO FOOD AND DRINK policy." 
  11. ^ Sethi, Anita (20 February 2008). "My mission to beat the great cinema food rip-off ...". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/feb/20/news.foodanddrink. Retrieved 9 July 2011. 
  12. ^ "Film fan thrown out of cinema for bringing own sweets". Metro. http://www.metro.co.uk/news/100578-film-fan-thrown-out-of-cinema-for-bringing-own-sweets. Retrieved 10 July 2011. 
  13. ^ "Postman thrown out of cinema for buying his own (much cheaper) sweets elsewhere". Daily Mail. 18 February 2008. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-515585/Postman-thrown-cinema-buying-cheaper-sweets-elsewhere.html. Retrieved 10 July 2011. 
  14. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012208/Has-3D-film-lost-lustre-Just-38-watch-Pirates-Of-The-Caribbean-wth-specs-on.html
  15. ^ Sims, Paul (8 July 2011). "The great cinema food revolt: Popcorn is too pricey, say nine in ten movie-goers". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012723/9-10-movie-goers-say-cinema-popcorn-expensive.html?ITO=1490. Retrieved 9 July 2011. 
  16. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342050/How-3D-films-cost-families-extra-11-trip-cinema.html

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