Cinema City recently opened its 24th multiplex in Romania, in Bucharest’s ParkLake mall, after a EUR 6 million investment it shared with the mall’s developers Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development.

“In 2007, when we opened our first cinema in Romania, I said that we could reach 20 multiplexes in the country in 10 years. I think that few people believed me at that time. Today, after nine years, we reach 25 multiplexes,” said Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld Group, which owns the Cinema City brand.

The group’s expansion in Romania has coincided with the growth of the local cinema market. From about 2 million movie tickets sold in 2007 the market has reached over 11 million tickets sold in 2015, and ticket sales per capita are still much lower compared to other countries in the region.

Cinema City has 24 multiplexes with 225 screens, which make Romania the group’s third-biggest market, after UK and Poland. The cinema operator will open another multiplex in Piatra Neamt, in northern Romania, this year and reach 25 units.

Moreover, the group plans to continue its expansion with some 14 new units planned by the end of 2018. It plans to reach new cities where it is not currently present.

Cinema City has four multiplexes in Bucharest, two in Timisoara, Constanta, Cluj-Napoca, and Ploiesti, and one in Iasi, Bacau, Suceava, Satu Mare, Targu Mures, Deva, Targu Jiu, Drobeta Turnu Severin, Pitesti, and Braila.

Besides Piatra Neamt, the operator already has plans to open new units in Sibiu, Brasov, Craiova, Galati, and Buzau.

Cinema City is by far the biggest cinema operator in Romania. The company had sales of EUR 41 million and a net profit of EUR 2.25 million, in 2015, according to official information from the Finance Ministry. Some 160 employees worked in its local multiplexes.

The second-biggest local cinema operator was Movieplex Cinema, which runs the multiplex at Plaza Romania mall in Bucharest, which had revenues of EUR 3.5 million.

Cineworld’s operations in Romania include movie distribution (Forum Film), and cinema advertising (New Age Media), which generated combined revenues of some EUR 6.2 million in 2015.

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editor@romania-insider.com