Omniplex Cinemas is acinema chain which started in the Republic of Ireland in 1991. Following this they expanded toDerry inNorthern Ireland in 1993. In late 2023, it entered the markets in England and Scotland by acquiring the former Empire Cinemas after their bankruptcy.

It is operated by Paul Anderson. It operates cinemas throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 2013, Omniplex began a €14.5m investment and renovation in a number of its cinemas including the rolling out across Ireland of its large screen format OmniplexMAXX.^[1]

Omniplex owns 43 cinemas, with 21 cinemas in the Republic of Ireland and 22 cinemas in the United Kingdom.^[2]

The Anderson family have a long history in the film and cinema business dating back to 1948 when Kevin Anderson (Paul Anderson's father now retired) first started a film distribution business. The first films acquired wereThe Hills of Donegal andThe Rose of Tralee, which were distributed to cinemas across Ireland.

The first cinema was purchased inLucan in 1955. The Andersons continued to acquire, redevelop and sell cinemas across Ireland over the subsequent decades. Their biggest acquisition came when they bought the Rank Cinemas portfolio in 1988, which included Dublin's flagshipSavoy cinema and The Screen cinema, which the Andersons jointly owned as part of the Dublin Cinema Group until 2013.

The first cinema to be branded an Omniplex was inSantry (now IMC). Since then, Omniplex has expanded in both theRepublic of Ireland andNorthern Ireland. This includes the 13 screenCork Omniplex which opened in 2005 and theRathmines Omniplex which completed in 2014 following a 15-year campaign to open cinemas in The Swan SC, which the Andersons acquired in 1999.

The company announced the acquisition of the Quayside cinema inBalbriggan, which was bought from NAMA and refurbished at a cost of €1.5m.^[3]

As well as screening films, Omniplex cinemas also show live events that are broadcast from around the world. This includes weekly live show from New York's Met Opera, TheBolshoi Ballet and music concerts.

Omniplex are reported to sell 5.5m cinema tickets per year.^[1]

In 2023, Omniplex opened a concept cinema inCastleCourt,Belfast under the name The Avenue.

On 4 December 2023, Omniplex announced it had enteredGreat Britain, with the acquisition of theEmpire Cinemas chain, which had previously entered administration in July. Omniplex would later acquire more cinemas inSunderland andWigan.

In May 2015 it was announced that Omniplex had bought the Gaiety Cinema Group (GCG) in an €8m deal. GCG owned two cinemas inSligo andArklow, in the Bridgewater Shopping Centre^[4][5]

The OmniplexMAXX is the next generation of giant format cinemas screens being rolled out across Omniplex's cinemas. This includes the OmniplexMAXX inAntrim which, at 23 metres wide, is Ireland's widest cinema screen. Other OmniplexMAXX screens have opened inMahon, Cork, in 2013Limerick,Banbridge,Waterford andRathmines, which opened in 2014 with the Irish premier ofThe Inbetweeners 2.^[6] New OmniplexMAXX screens are planned in Dundonald and Dundalk. The auditoriums include custom-designed leather reclining armchairs as standard, HD digital projection, MasterImage 3D andDolby Atmos surround sound.^[7]

In 2015 Omniplex launched OmniPark, the new leisure park brand covering four of the parks that company owns, on which it has cinemas. Omniparks are located inDundonald,Craigavon,Bangor andOmagh.^[8][9]

The Andersons were formerly partners of the Wards, owners ofIrish Multiplex Cinemas in theWard Anderson cinemas empire. However, two families fell out after the Andersons signed a deal to build a cinema on the Stephen's Green shopping centre, without notifying, or involving the Wards in the new cinema. The new cinema would have been in direct competition with their jointly owned cinemas inDublin city centre,The Savoy, and The Screen.^[10] This resulted in a long-running legal struggle that led to a major case in Four Courts in which the Ward and Anderson families eventually agreed to split their cinema empire in January 2013.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

The agreement to divide the assets allocated 23 cinemas to the Anderson family including the 13-screen Cork Omniplex and 22 other cinemas in their Omniplex Cinemas Group. The Ward family were allocated 12 cinemas in their Irish Multiplex Cinemas group, including theSavoy andScreen cinemas in Dublin.^[16]

Paul Anderson is the son of Kevin Anderson who is one of the co-founders ofWard Anderson.^[17]

• Omniplex Cinemas Ireland
• Omniplex Cinemas UK

• Cinema chains in the Republic of Ireland
• Cinema chains in the United Kingdom

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