Popcorn and Jedis lift Odeon revenues

BOX office receipts generated by ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and ‘La La Land’ contributed to the Odeon cinema group here recording operating profits of €494,000 last year.

New accounts filed by United Cinema International (Ireland) Ltd show that operating profits decreased by 30pc, from €711,000 to €494,000.

The drop in operating profits came in spite of revenues increasing by 4.5pc, from €32.5m to €34m.

The group operates 11 cinemas with 77 screens here and is part of Europe’s largest cinema exhibitor, operating in 14 countries. The company last year recorded a pre-tax loss of €394,000 after net interest payable payments of €868,000 are taken into account.

The accounts give an insight into the importance of popcorn and soft-drinks sales to cinema firms. A breakdown shows that it recorded €21m in box office revenues and another €11.23m – or 53pc of the box-office total – in selling popcorn, soft drinks, sweets and other items in its retail revenue. The group generated €705,000 in screen advertising income and €1m in ‘other’ revenues.

The operating profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.2m and lease costs of €3m. Numbers employed by the group total 415 with staff costs of €5.8m. In their report, the directors said cinema attendance across Ireland rose by 1.3pc to 16.1 million last year.

“The year saw the release of a number of films that performed particularly strongly including ‘Beauty & the Beast’, ‘La La Land’ and ‘Star Wars: Last Jedi’,” they said. The directors said the company has successfully maintained market share.