Warner Village Cinemas, the joint venture created last November between Warner Bros International Theatres and Australian-based Village Roadshow to develop a network of cinema screens throughout the UK, Germany and Italy, has announced plans for a further raft of development.
Warner Village Cinemas, which currently operates 17 multiplexes in England, has pledged to have 40 in operation throughout the UK by the year 2000, as well as 20 sites in both Germany and Italy. Among the latest batch of seven new UK sites announced is the UK's first megaplex, a 30-screen development in Birmingham.
As a result of such expansion, the UK is set to become the biggest movie-going territory in Europe, based on the projected growth of multi-screen cinemas.
UK-based Dodona Research predicts that annual UK admissions will rise to 180 million (from 1996's 114 million) by the turn of the century.
With existing players like Warner Village, UCI, Virgin Cinemas, Showcase and Cine UK now competing for available sites with the likes of Hoyts and Ster Kinekor, the second stage of the UK exhibition revolution is well underway.
However, demand for sites has seen cinema rents rocket from an average of around $15 per square foot to over $30. Such an increase may dent the prospects for some of the players involved, leading to a series of mergers in order to spread the risk.
Moreover, if rentals are high, exhibitors will be even more reluctant to take chances when booking films. This could have a disastrous effect on the UK's independent distributors, who already have a hard enough time finding UK screens for their films.
On the other hand, those exhibitors who are best able to find and keep a loyal audience, through creative branding and imaginative concessions, will prosper. As Village Roadshow's managing director Graham Burke puts it, “The horizon of opportunity for cinemas in the UK is as exciting as any country in the world today.”
