Kinepolis Belgium visitor numbers down by 10%

The Kinepolis Group, a Belgian chain of movie theatres consisting of 23 cinema complexes across Europe, welcomed 2.2 million visitors to Belgian theatres in the first three months of 2015, reports De Standaard. That is a 10.2% decrease compared to the same period last year, according to quarterly figures from the cinema group.

The decrease is due to a lack of good local films in early 2015, and the success of last year’s The Wolf of Wall Street, according to the group. And it comes in spite of the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, which brought a record number of visitors to theatres in all countries in the first quarter of 2015.

While visitor numbers are down in Belgium, the total number of Kinepolis visitors across Europe increased by 10.1% in the first quarter of 2015, to 5.3 million visitors. The group attributes its success to the acquisition of a number of cinema complexes last year in the Netherlands, several successful local films in France and increased visitor numbers in Spain.