Blockbusters boost sales and profits at Cineworld cinema chain

Along with wartime epic Dunkirk the trio together gross £197.4 million in the UK, helping drive performance at the world's second biggest cinema chain.

Last month the company completed a £2.7 billion deal to buy the Regal chain, giving it access to the lucrative US market and creating a combined group with more than 9,500 screens across 10 countries and will see Cineworld enter the lucrative US market.

Meanwhile Cineworld – which operates the multiplex at Bentley Bridge in Wednesfield as well as cinemas in Telford, Birmingham Broad Street and at the NEC – has just reported rising annual sales and profits for the last year.

The group achieved an 11.6 per cent rise in revenue to £890.7 million in the year to December 31, with pre-tax profit growing 22.7 per cent to £120.5 million.

Box office sales were up 6.4 per cent to £553.7 million and retail sales of sweets, snacks and drinks jumped 11.1 per cent to £220.4 million as the chain was boosted by the opening of a further five Starbucks coffee shops in its cinemas.

Looking ahead, Cineworld said it is encouraged by the film slate in 2018, which includes Solo: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool 2 and Fifty Shades Freed.

Among other keenly awaited movies out this year are Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Avengers: Infinity War, The Incredibles 2, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Mary Poppins Returns.

Cineworld's deal to buy Regal gives it a footprint for the first time in the USA, which has the largest box office market in the world worth more than 10 billion dollars (£7.5 billion) a year.

Boss Mooky Greidinger said: "The US is the biggest cinema market in the world and we are confident that this transformative acquisition will be a great success."

Company chairman Anthony Bloom added: "2017 was an exciting year for the Cineworld Group - the most momentous since its formation in 1995. For the financial year ended December 31, 2017, the group's operations in the UK and ROW (Rest of the World) once again posted record results and then in December we announced the proposed acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group for $3.4bn which has successfully completed on February 28, 2018.

"It is particularly gratifying that the Regal acquisition received strong support from our shareholders – 87.3 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the acquisition at the General Meeting on February 2, 2018, and 96.3 per cent followed their rights in the subsequent Rights Issue."