23/07/2002 - A study by Media Salles has confirmed the rise of the multiplex cinema, with the UK and Spain leading the European market

Media Salles has outlined, in it´s latestEuropean Cinema Journal newsletter, an interesting survey on the evolution of multiplex cinemas in Europe. According to the research, the number of cinemas located in multiplex complexes in Western Europe has increased from 4,924 in October 1999 to 7,133 in the same month of 2001. The spectacular increase of multiplex cinemas has been followed by a conspicuous decrease of cinemas with a single screen.
The highest number of screens inside multiplex cinemas is in Great Britain (25% of the European total), followed by Spain (20%), France (19%) and Germany (16%). These five countries have significant differences: the percentage of screens in multiplexes in Great Britain represents 54% of the total cinema screens in the country, followed by Spain with 35%, while in Italy, where the «multiplex phenomenon» started much later (in 1997), the number of screens in this type of complex represents only 7% of the market.

(Translated from Italian)