Cineworld looks to the next dimension to boost takings

Other eagerly anticipated films later this year include Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the long-awaited sequel to the 1980s classic starring Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko.

Chief executive Stephen Wiener said: "The strong film line up in the second half, coupled with our solid first half performance, underpins our confidence in performing in line with market expectations for the year."

Meanwhile, the company said it was banking on the first 3D instalment of the Harry Potter saga to boost takings this year amid signs of strong demand for blockbusters in the new format.

While the World Cup prompted a 3 per cent fall in admissions during the six months to June, Cineworld says filmgoers should flock to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and other 3D movies such as Chronicles of Narnia – Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

More expensive 3D films accounted for more than 20 per cent of Cineworld's admissions in the first half – up from 8 per cent a year earlier – lifting average ticket prices from 4.59 to 4.93.

This helped protect profits despite the distractions of South Africa's football festival, with underlying earnings rising 5 per cent to 24.4m. Cineworld, which expects 18 films to be shown in 3D during the second half of the financial year, had 252 screens capable of showing movies in the format at the end of June.

And the World Cup was not all bad for business as the company screened several matches from the latter stages of the tournament in 3D.

This went down well with customers and the firm is planning to expand its range of live sporting offerings as a result.