A good run of Hollywood releases helped Cineworld Group plc (LON:CINE) to a strong performance in the early months of the year.
Cineworld told investors it achieved 21.3% revenue growth in the period, between January 1 and May 11, compared to the same period of last year – on a constant currency basis the improvement was 15.8%.
The group’s box office revenues grew by 15.9% overall, 17.3% in the UK, while retail revenues improved by 19.7%.
The top grossing titles for Cineworld included the Disney live-action Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson, the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone musical throwback La La Land as well as the eighth instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise, the Lego Batman Movie and the latest Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2.
Cineworld highlighted that the retail revenue growth was supported by the higher admissions as well as the nature of the film mix and the addition Starbucks outlets in certain cinemas and new VIP sites.
Higher UK admissions numbers also boosted revenues from advertising, with the group’s ‘other income’ revenue category up 7.5% from the comparative months of 2016.
The group is now looking to the upcoming release schedule, for May and June, which appears reliant on tried and tested Hollywood franchises with the new Pirates of Caribbean movie as well as a new Transformers and The Mummy titles – plus DC Comics title Wonder Woman.