Cineworld hoping for strong box-office sales from Hunger Games, Hobbit films

18th Nov 2014 08:07

Cinema chain operator Cineworld has seen an increase in sales since the start of 2014 and said that the film line-up for the rest of the year looks "promising".The group said it expects strong box-office performances from the latest instalments of The Hunger Games and The Hobbit movie franchises.'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' and 'The Hobbtt: Battle of the Five Armies' are both due out in the fourth quarter (Q4)."Looking ahead to the full year, the film line up for the remainder of Q4 is promising," the company said."The releases in the remainder of Q4 are comparable with the prior year. In light of this and our trading performance to date, the board remains confident of delivering results in line with market expectations for the full year."In the 46 weeks to 13 November, group sales were 1.1% ahead of the same period the year before.Admissions fell by 0.9%, mainly due to the phasing of film releases in the UK, but this was offset by increases to ticket prices and customer growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Israel.The stock was up 0.2% at 336.8p by 08:16 on Tuesday.