Major UK exhibition operators are eyeing up National Amusement’s UK Showcase Cinemas circuit now it has been put up for sale following the finali
Major UK exhibition operators are eyeing up National Amusement’s UK Showcase Cinemas circuit now it has been put up for sale following the finalisation of the Paramount-Skydance merger supported by RedBird Capital earlier this month.
National Amusements was owned by the Redstone family who controlled Paramount. According to the Showcase Cinemas website, it operates 816 screens in the US, UK, Argentina and Brazil.
These are all now expected to be sold as Paramount looks to streamline its business and focus on “forward-thinking approaches to content creation”, as per the announcement of the deal.
There are 16 Showcase sites in the UK: Bluewater, Cardiff Nantgarw, Derby, Glasgow Coatbridge, Leeds, Liverpool, Peterborough, Southampton, Bristol Avonmeads, Coventry, Dudley, Glasgow Paisley, Leicester, Nottingham, Reading and Teesside.
According to sales particulars seen by Screen, the UK sites can be acquired individually or with sub-portfolios. Eleven are owned sites with the freehold available; five are leased sites
“We will absolutely look at the National Amusements sites,” confirmed Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment. “I suspect we can’t purchase the entire circuit for competition reasons but there are some very good sites in there and we are going to have a hard look at the whole thing.”
The Showcases are sizeable complexes. The biggest in terms of screens, Bluewater Shopping Centre, has 17 screens, and the smallest, Castlegate Leisure Park in Dudley and West Quay Shopping Centre in Southampton, have 10.
Gielgud Way, Walsgrave, in Coventry, is the largest in terms of square feet, at 105,669 while the Showcase at Barrbridge Leisure Centre, Balliestown, in Glasgow East, is the most extensive site, on 24.99 acres.
Sitting tenants include restaurant businesses Nando’s, Five Guys and Pizza Hut, some on long leaseholds.
It is not known if the entire circuit will remain intact and if the leasehold sites will be as attractive as the freehold sites. It is possible some could be sold for property development rather than for continued apply as cinemas.
Separately, Odeon is reported to be planning to open a up-to-date theatre in Cabot Circus in Bristol on the site of the former Showcase De Luxe which closed in delayed 2023.
Exhibition veteran Crispin Lilly was appointed managing director of the Showcase Cinemas circuit in the spring of 2023.
He did not return Screen’s request for comment.
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