05/07/2013 - The Danish major builds a new 1,500-seat movie house in Copenhagen and leases two theatres in Ålesund to reach a 30% market share in Norway

Nordisk Film Cinemas, which recently (in April) took over Oslo Kino – Norway’s largest cinema chain, with 15 theatres – has added another two movie houses to its Norwegian operation, the Moa Kinocenter and Løvenvold Kino in Ålesund.

Signing a 10-year leasing agreement with the municipality of Ålesund for the four auditoria, taking app 130,000 admissions annually, Nordisk is now controlling 30% of the Norwegian market, against rival Svensk Filmindustri’s 24.6% and 134 publicly run theatres.

"We believe in cinemas, which have emerged as a robust business even in times of crisis,” said managing director  John Tønnes (photo), of Nordisk Film Cinemas. “With two more theaters, we are strengthening our position as the leading chain in Norway, and our strategy is to get even more cinemas both in Norway and Denmark.”  

Besides the expansion in Norway, Nordisk – which is owned by Denmark’s Egmont media concern - has added Nykøbing Falster’s Scala Bio to its Danish circuit, the country’s largest, covering all major cities and last year selling app 6.1 million tickets every year.

"We are looking for all opportunities for growth through purchase, lease or construction of cinemas," added Tønnes, whose next expansion will be a 5,000 sqm2, nine-screen and 1,500-seat movie centre in the Field’s Shopping Centre at Copenhagen’s Amager, which will open next autumn.

Besides film premieres, Nordisk plans to add satellite transmissions of sports events, ballet, opera, theatre and shows to the programming of the new cinema. Nordisk runs a total of 17 cinemas in Denmark, including Copenhagen’s No 1, the Imperial, with 1,102 seats.