Cineworld, the UK’s second-biggest movie-theater operator, wants to build cinemas in Ireland because people there go to the movies "significantly" more than in the UK.

“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,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen Wiener said in an interview at the company’s offices in London.

Cineworld is in discussions on several sites and “there are no finalized plans,” he said.

Cineworld has one cinema in Ireland, located in Dublin. It is the highest grossing cinema in the country, Wiener said.

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

Second-half trading has benefited from the release of popular films such as “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” and “The Hangover”, the company said in a regulatory statement on October 27.

There are more opportunities in Ireland because there are “less modern multiplexes proportionally in the Republic of Ireland than there are in the UK,” Wiener said.

“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.”

Source: www.independent.ie