Bond Film Gives Cineworld Box Office Boost

Cinema group Cineworld received a box office boost from the release of new James Bond film Spectre and is lining up more major releases before the end of the year with new Star Wars and Hunger Games movies.

It said total revenues for the 46 weeks to November 19 in the UK and Ireland were ahead by 11.2% of the same period the year before with box office takings up 10.2%. For the wider group revenues rose by 11.9%.

The group said it had built on a strong performance in the first half of its financial year and that the fourth quarter had "started strongly" with the release of Spectre on 26 October in the UK and on 5 November in its central and eastern European markets and Israel.

It added: "The film slate for the remainder of 2015 includes two major releases, the final Hunger Games title Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'.

"The board remains confident of delivering a performance for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations."

Spectre broke UK box office records when it took in £6.3m on its first day to become the highest-grossing film ever released on a Tuesday. The latest in the franchise beat its predecessor, 2012's Skyfall, which took in £6.2m on its first day in cinemas.

Cineworld said it would open three more sites in the UK before the end of the year. It currently has 216 cinema sites worldwide. It has 77 multiplex cinemas across the UK as well as 23 city centre Picturehouse venues.

The business was recently involved in controversy when it was one of three of the UK's biggest cinema companies refusing to show an advert by the Church of England ahead of films.

The advert, which features people reciting the Lord’s Prayer, was due to be shown ahead of viewings of the upcoming Star Wars film. Odeon and Vue have also announced that they will not screen the advert.