In Poland, up to 250 new screens could be built soon

posted by Michael Zoldessy on June 26, 2012 at 7:58 am

Authors: Ing. Juraj Misun, PhD. – Ing. Ivana Misunova Hudakova, PhD.

In the next five years 200 to 250 new cinema screens could be built in the Central European country Poland. This results from the analysis of the company AMB Group Polska, which specializes on construction and reconstruction of multi-screen theaters.

“According the analysis of the investment plans of cinema operators, the construction of 200 to 250 new screens in the next five years seems very real” said Michael Michalowski from AMB Group. He added that only about 20 to 30 percent of these projects will be located in major Polish cities like Warsaw or Cracow. Shopping centers are also built in towns with about 100,000 inhabitants and the Polish population is increasingly looking for cinema entertainment.

The largest operator in Poland – Cinema City International – plans to open four sites with 51 screens and one IMAX-screen. The new theaters should be built in Gdansk (19 screens + IMAX), Lodz (12), Kielce (10) and Lublin (10). The investment mood of this Israeli company in Central Europe is currently cooling down. Its future investment the company is now trying to shift primarily to the Balkan Peninsula, to Romania.

The number two operator, Multikino, plans according to the AMB Group Poland to open in the next five years five to seven theaters.

The third largest multiplex operator, Helios, officially plans to open ten sites in the next two years. In 2012: in Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Belchatow, Rzeszow and Szczecin and one year later in Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Kalisz, Nowy Sacz, Bialystok and Siedlce. The company, owned by media conglomeration AGORA opened its 28th site in Tczew on 20th June 2012.

Smaller miniplexes are also constructed by the domestic investor Cinema3D. Two miniplexes should be opened in cities Leszno and Belchatow this year. An interesting trend is taking shape as the owners of Polish shopping centers are beginning to realize that multi-screen cinemas can also be built in already existing sites. This is precisely the case for almost ten years old shopping center Galeria Pomorska in Bydgoszcz. The new cinema will offer over 1,100 seats and will occupy 2,600 sqm. It will be built instead of the former bowling center and an attraction is that it will be built primarily at night, to least disturb customers and existing tenants. AMB Group Poland has been appointed as the general contractor for the new Helios cinema.

In favor of the competence of AMB Group Poland said that in its 12-years activity it has already completed work in 29 cinemas with 150 screens in 22 Polish cities, as well as in Vilnius (Lithuania) and Riga (Latvia).