Film Distribution in Norwich

Over the weekend of the 1st to the 2nd of November I collected data on film distribution in the Norwich. I collected data from the 4 local cinemas and what films they were showing. These cinemas were Vue, The Odeon, Cinema City and Hollywood Cinema all located in Norwich.

Overall there was a selection of 21 films to choose from being shown at one point over the weekend. The Odeon screened over 50% of the 21 with 13 films being shown, Vue screened 12, Cinema City screened 6 and Hollywood 7. Of all the films only 6 were British and none were of any other foreign production other than Hollywood. Only 28% of the films shown were British in comparison to the 72% Hollywood films. Of all the films shown 134 films were screened on Saturday and 130 were screened on Sunday with an overall number of 264 screenings over the weekend. The Odeon has 14 screens, Vue has 8, Hollywood Cinema has 4 and cinema city has 3.


‘The Odeon’ cinemas are the largest chain of cinema’s in Europe. Owned by ‘UCI’ who were formed from a partnership of ‘Paramount Pictures’ and ‘Universal Studios’ who are both Hollywood based production companies. Much like ‘Vue’ cinemas who are owned by ‘Warner Brothers village’ a company owned by ‘Warner Brothers’, also a large Hollywood production company. As both are funded by Hollywood production companies they both therefore show mainly Hollywood produced films as that is were there money is coming from in the first place.

This is not the same for Cinema City who are an
Cinema City over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd showed 3 unique british films were shown at the cinema out of 6 films all together. ‘Ruby Blue’, ‘Of Time And The City’ and ‘Ghosts Of Norwich’. These films were only being shown in selected cinemas over the country and cinema city was one to support these films unlike the more mainstream organizations. This shows cinema city’s support of the British film institution, their support for more art and cultural films and local films such as Ghosts of Norwich.

The Hollywood cinema is an independent chain only situated in East Anglia.

We can conclude from the above information that The Odeon and Vue having the most number of screens, funding from Hollywood itself and showing 72% Hollywood films dominates the film distribution in the Norwich. Also Hollywood cinema shows mainly Hollywood films with the only support for the British film coming from Cinema City which has very limited viewings with comparison to the 2 major multiplex’.