Cineworld, The UK’s largest cinema operator based in Chiswick, West London, will look to a higher calibre film schedule in the second half of the year when it reveals under-pressure box office admissions this week.
The group, which has 79 cinemas and 811 screens, reported a fall in admissions for the first six months of 2012 but it was able to increase revenues by hiking prices. This is expected to help lift pre-tax revenue by 10 per cent to £13.6 million for the six months to June; however the group is expected to reveal lack lustre trading in July.
Although the timing of the Olympics has hit the business, Cineworld will profit from a strong film schedule including science-fiction blockbuster Total Recall, the latest James Bond movie Skyfall, The Hobbit and the final instalment of the vampire romantic Twilight series.
And the commercial property group have taken advantage of the Olympic fever by screening major events in 3D in its cinemas, as it did with Andy Murray’s Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.
According to the business, box office revenues were spread across a number of films in the first-half of the year, with the top 10 highest grossing films accounting for approximately 40 per cent of Cineworld’s total box office.
Comic-book adventure Avengers Assemble, which made more than £51m in the UK, was a stand-out performer and was supported by good showings from The Hunger Games, Men in Black 3, and science-fiction thriller Prometheus, the prequel to Alien.
The commercial property said the performance of 3D films has been “stabilising” over the past year with 15 3D film releases during the first half, compared with 17 last year, representing around 15 per cent of Cineworld’s admissions, slightly lower than the 17 per cent in 2011.
There have been disturbing signs that the 3D boom may have already ended after the British Film Institute (BFI) released a survey showing 3D takings were down despite the fact the number of films in this format had doubled.
It was hoped that the 3D format would bring to life a new era for cinema operators, which charge extra for the required glasses and in some cases more for a ticket.
Cineworld said film studios were becoming increasingly skilful in discerning the target audience and genre of 3D films, but added: “The quality of 3D film product remains absolutely critical.” Retail profits – such as snacks and refreshments, was 2.1 per cent lower than the year before, with the average spend per person dropping to £1.65 during the half year due to the hard-hitting consumer spending climate.
Meanwhile after a slow start to 2012, Europe’s largest exhibitor Odeon UCI Cinemas has shown mixed results for the second quarter of the year, with attendance bouncing back in Germany and the U.K, but continuing to drop in Italy and Spain.
Ticket sales for the company were up 9.3 per cent to 18.2 million; however this figure was boosted by the acquisition of several new commercial property sites. On a like-for-like basis, attendance was up by just 0.8 per cent.
On the whole market attendance was up 11 per cent in the UK and up 3 per cent in Germany for the April to June period, but fell 4 per cent a piece in Italy and Spain.
Marvel’s Avengers Assemble drove a strong uptick across all areas in April; however June saw sharp declines across the board, thanks to the unusually warm weather and competition from the Euro football championships.
The commercial property company is expecting a further dip in the third quarter, thanks to the Olympics and the absence of strong film releases to match last year’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One”, nevertheless the business is anticipating a rebound in the last quarter of the year, with the arrival of films such as “The Hobbit”.
Odeon UCI has 2,140 screens in 230 locations across seven territories, more than double the size of its nearest Pan-European exhib competitors. Its market share grew by 1 per cent across all its territories to 16.4 per cent through the second quarter, thanks to the impact of its latest acquisitions.
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