Cineworld plans Irish expansion

Britain's second-biggest movie-theatre operator has said it wants to open up cinemas in Ireland because people of the high number…

Britain's second-biggest movie-theatre operator has said it wants to open up cinemas in Ireland because people of the high number of film-goers here.

"We're looking at the Republic of Ireland right now because the people in Ireland go to the movies a significantly higher number of times a year than they do in the UK," said chief executive Stephen Wiener.

Cineworld, which already has one cinema in Dublin city centre that is the highest grossing cinema in the country, said it is in discussions on several sites and "there are no finalised plans," he said.

Cineworld has 77 cinemas and 790 screens after recently opening a 10-screen cinema in Aberdeen, Scotland and a five screen cinema in Witney, England.

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There are more opportunities in Ireland because there are "less modern multiplexes proportionally in the Republic of Ireland than there are in the UK," added Mr Wiener.

"We've done a lot of homework now, if we're going there we know where we want to build cinemas, so now it's just a matter of getting some deals done," he added.

Bloomberg