Czech CineStar cinema chain tops a billion crowns, eyes Brno

The CineStar multiplex chain, majority-owned by entrepreneur Pavel Vodička, has topped the one-billion-crown mark in annual revenue for the third time in its history. Last year the company earned 1.009 billion crowns (up 9.2% year on year) and posted a net profit of 72.6 million crowns, 12.8% more than a year earlier.

More than 3.1 million moviegoers visited CineStar cinemas last year — five percent more than in 2024. That helped the chain grow its share of the Czech cinema market: by admissions, to 25% (from 23%), and by revenue, to 27.6% (from 26%). Even so, the company still has some way to go to match the record year of 2019, when CineStar drew 4.65 million visitors and turnover reached 1.06 billion crowns.

CineStar now operates thirteen multiplexes in major Czech cities — the last new cinema opened in České Budějovice in 2017. In recent years the company has invested in renovating its auditoriums: cinemas in Pardubice, Hradec Králové and Ostrava have been completely rebuilt, and this year the Plzeň cinema is due for an upgrade too. Among the key projects of 2025 is the opening of the premium Gold Class format at the multiplex at Černý Most in Prague, complementing a similar hall at Anděl.

Since last May the company has been led by new CEO Miroslav Romančuk, who previously spent seventeen years as CineStar's technical and operations director. He succeeded the chain's longtime head, Jan Bradáč.

According to Romančuk, further expansion into smaller towns is no longer on the table. “We're only interested in big cities, but all the spots there are already taken. There is one exception, though — Brno, where we're not yet present. If a suitable project comes along, we'll certainly be interested,” he said in an interview with the Borovan.cz website.

The CEO also noted that film distribution itself has changed: “mid-tier” films for adult audiences have disappeared, and the repertoire is now built around eight to ten big blockbusters a year, like the Marvel films, plus a large number of independent films that don't draw much demand. He separately lamented the shortage of quality Czech romantic comedies on the level of Tiger Theory or Kiss Like God, saying there is simply no longer enough budget or time to develop such scripts.

Overall, Czech cinema-goers spent 2.267 billion crowns on tickets last year, with 12.6 million admissions — a level comparable to 2023–2024 but still below the pre-pandemic record of 2019 (2.617 billion crowns). Romančuk believes the industry as a whole has already recovered from the effects of the pandemic and inflation, and that the drop in attendance has mainly to do with the content on offer rather than the impact of streaming platforms.