The Incredibles 2, Blank Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again last year contributed to operating profits at the Odeon cinema group increasing 8 per cent to €534,000.
However, United Cinemas International (Ireland) Ltd recorded a pretax loss of €7.8 million, mainly as a result of net cost of €5.6 million concerning back rent paid to a landlord dating from 2013. The pretax loss also arose from interest payments of €2.7 million.
The Odeon brand is a market leader in the Republic, operating 11 cinemas with 77 screens and last year recorded revenues increasing to €34.37 million from €34 million. This was against the background of 15.8 million attendances at cinemas across the State last year. The directors say that market share last year decreased 0.3 per cent on 2017 to 17.7 per cent overall.
The company is part of AMC, which is the largest theatre operator in the world and is owned by Chinese billionaire businessman Wang Jianlin.
A breakdown of the company’s revenues show that €21.34 million was earned from the box office; €10.9 million from retail revenue; €1.47 million from other revenues and €627,000 from screen advertising income.
Numbers employed fell from 415 to 388 and staff costs fell €100,000 to €5.7 million.
