EXCLUSIVE: Mooky Greidinger, the former CEO of the Cineworld Group is understood to be among the bidders for the Paramount- owned UK Showcase cinema circuit, which has been on the auction block since summer 2025, Screen has learned.
If successful, Greidinger could use the chain to start building another exhibition empire in the UK
An announcement is expected imminently on the sale of the Showcase circuit for which the likely purchase price has been quoted at around £55m.
Other names mentioned as potentially interested in the circuit include Belgian operator Kinepolis, Irish outfit Omniplex and entrepreneur Paul Heth.
The Showcase circuit has 16 cinemas across the UK. Paramount is looking to sell the circuit in its entirety rather than do individual deals on separate sites. That is likely to mean the major chains Odeon, Vue and Cineworld will not be able to go after the circuit for competition reasons.
However, whoever takes on the circuit will potentially be in a position to challenge the big three operators. The auction process has dragged on far longer than originally expected, given Paramount was reported to be keen to offload the cinemas as quickly as possible.
It is understood that several of the sites need extensive refurbishment.
Greidinger and his management team at Cineworld left the debt-laden exhibition giant in the summer of 2023, securing a reported $35m payout just as the company was about to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US. He was believed to have signed a year-long non-compete agreement.
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