page_title: Cineworld
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cineworld / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cineworld Telford Centre Shropshire
context_page_description: Cineworld is a British cinema company and is the world's second-largest cinema chain, with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 11 countries: the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Israel, Hungary, Czechia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The group's primary brands are Regal, Cineworld and Picturehouse, Cinema City and Yes Planet.
  As of March 2018, Cineworld was the leading cinema operator in the UK by box office market share, with 99 cinemas and over 1,017 screens, including Ireland's single largest multiplex by screens and customer base. Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK. The Cineworld site with the greatest number of screens is located at Valley Centertainment in Sheffield, which has 20. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
context_section_description: Cineworld was founded by Steve Wiener in 1995. The first Cineworld theatre opened in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996. A second theatre opened in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in December 1996 and the third opened in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1998. In 2004, Cineworld was acquired by Blackstone private equity group for £120m. The following year, Cineworld acquired the UK and Ireland operations of French cinema company UGC.
  In December 2012, Cineworld acquired the Picturehouse Cinema chain, adding 21 cinemas to its portfolio, including The Little Theatre in Bath, Brighton's Duke of York's cinema, the Cameo, Edinburgh, the Phoenix in Oxford and the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton.
  The Blackstone Group, which had invested in Cineworld when it was privately owned, sold its entire remaining 20% shareholding in November 2010. In August 2013, The Guardian revealed that Cineworld employs 80% of its 4,300 staff on zero hour contracts. In October 2013, the Chester location was closed due to the landowner wanting to develop the land into a supermarket.
  In 2014 Cineworld's Picturehouse chain was subject to industrial action owing to its refusal to pay the London living wage to its staff. The workforce attracted the support of Eric Cantona. On 27 February 2014 Cineworld completed the takeover of Cinema City International N.V.. As of March 2015, the Greidinger family (who owned a controlling 54% stake in Cinema City International) held a controlling bloc as the largest shareholders in the enlarged company.
  In May 2014, Mooky Greidinger joined the board of directors as CEO, having previously been CEO of Cinema City International.
  In 2015, Picturehouse unveiled their new West End flagship site, ‘Picturehouse Central’, a 1,000 seat, seven-screen cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue near Piccadilly Circus in central London. In August 2016 Cineworld acquired six cinemas from Empire Cinemas, including the Empire Theatre in London's West End, and 4 other locations in Basildon, Poole, Bromley and Hemel Hempstead. Empire Newcastle was also acquired by Cineworld the following year.
  In November 2017, Cineworld began merger talks with the US theater chain Regal Cinemas. On 5 December, it was officially announced that Cineworld would buy Regal for US$3.6 billion (£2.7 billion), creating the world's second largest cinema group. It would also allow Cineworld access to the US market, the largest in the world. The acquisition was completed in 2018.
  In 2018, a record 308 million people attended Cineworld movie theaters, creating a 7.2 percent increase in revenue.
  In March 2019, Cineworld and Eagle Pictures invested in Spyglass Media Group.
  On 16 December 2019, Cineworld announced its proposed acquisition of Cineplex Entertainment—Canada's largest cinema chain—for approximately US$2.1 billion. Cineworld plans to integrate its operations with Regal to achieve cost and revenue synergies. This will make it North America's largest cinema chain which was formerly held by Loews Cineplex Entertainment. The deal was approved by shareholders in February 2020. The name Cineplex would continue for the Canadian operation, according to CEO Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger. A news report on 12 June 2020, however, indicated that Cineworld would terminate the purchase agreement due to alleged "material adverse effect and breaches" by Cineplex.
  On March 17, 2020, Cineworld and all other cinema companies in the UK temporarily closed their UK theaters due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some 800 staff at Cineworld Group PLC wrote to Chief Executive Moshe Greidinger requesting their jobs back after many were made redundant, “with immediate effect”. Employees with over three years of service were told they would be retained with 40% of their salary or average pay. The letter said the move would leave many of the affected unable to afford essentials such as housing and food. In late May 2020, Cineworld announced they planned to reopen all its UK cinemas in July. On August 14, 2020, they announced a new reopening schedule, in which their Welsh cinemas would open on August 14, whereas their Irish
caption: Cineworld Telford
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