Global Giants of Exhibition 2019

The cinema business continues to take an increasingly global turn. For distributors, the impact of overseas box office receipts is well known by this point, particularly on tentpole releases. The world seems to be shrinking for exhibitors as well. Consolidation has concentrated the number of global players in the industry, with the Chinese market’s rapid growth continuing to dominate our annual Global Giants of Exhibition ranking. This year’s list of the world’s top 30 circuits by screen count features 17 Chinese-owned companies, including AMC Entertainment—which, for the first year in this ranking, is listed separately from Dalian Wanda’s presence in the APAC region. China’s robust presence on this list shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Chinese market has grown at a breakneck pace in recent years, hitting the highest-grossing month in its history with $1.6 billion collected from ticket sales in February 2019. 

In the North American market (U.S. & Canada), Marcus Theatres joins AMC, Regal (Cineworld), Cinemark, and Cineplex as the fifth circuit to operate over 1,000 screens. The benchmark comes after the acquisition of the Movie Tavern dine-in brand from Southern Theatres, completed in Q1 2019. Mexican circuit Cinemex crossed the 3,000-screen mark thanks to its own expansion in the United States under its CMX Cinemas label. Mexico has become a global leader in the cinema industry in recent years. Mexico is the only country outside the U.S. and China to have more than one representative among the world’s 10 leading exhibition circuits. On the production side, five of the last six Best Director Academy Awards have gone to Mexican filmmakers. 

According to the MPAA, the number of cinema screens around the world increased by 8 percent in 2017 to slightly over 170,000. The future suggests further growth, with emerging markets like Nigeria and Saudi Arabia poised to increase their screen counts. As more markets open their doors to the cinema business, expect this list to continue evolving in the coming years.

Ranking	Circuit	Country	Screens
1	AMC Entertainment Inc (Wanda Intl., – China)	U.S.	11,091
2	Cineworld	UK	9,542
3	Guangdong Dadi	China	6,296
4	Cinemark Theatres	U.S.	6,048
5	Cinépolis	Mexico	5,771
6	China Film Group Digital Cinema Line Co., Ltd.	China	5,416
7	Wanda Film Co. Ltd.	China	5,279
8	China Film South Cinema Circuit	China	4,843
9	Shanghai United Cinema Circuit	China	3,731
10	China Film Stellar Theater Chain	China	3,526
11	Cinemex	Mexico	3,076
12	Red Carp Digital Cinema	China	2,643
13	CJ CGV	South Korea	2,632
14	Hengdian Entertainment Co., Ltd.	China	2,484
15	Huaxia Film Distribution	China	2,429
16	GZ. JinYiZhuJiang Movie Circuit Co.,Ltd	China	2,398
17	Zhejiang Time Cinemas	China	2,061
18	Omnijoi Cinema Circuit LLC	China	1,953
19	Vue Cinemas	UK	1,928
20	Cineplex Entertainment	Canada	1,686
21	Sichuan Pacific Cinema Line Co., Ltd.	China	1,669
22	Village Roadshow	Australia	1,627
23	Perfect World Cinema Chain	China	1,395
24	Henan Oscar Film Group	China	1,313
25	Poly Wanhe Theater Chain	China	1,287
26	Event Cinemas & Hospitality	Australia	1,286
27	Marcus Theatres Corporation	U.S.	1,098
28	Pathé Gaumont	France	1,091
29	Lotte	South Korea	1,051
30	National Amusements	U.S.	942

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