Cineworld was founded by Steve Wiener in 1995. The first Cineworld theatre opened in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in July 1996. A second theatre opened in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in December 1996 and the third opened in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in 1998.

As of March 2018, Cineworld was the leading cinema operator in the UK by box office market share (based on revenue), with 99 cinemas and over 1,017 screens, including Ireland's single largest multiplex by screens and customer base. Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street is the tallest cinema in the world and the busiest, by customer base, in the UK.

Moreover, Cineworld is also the world's second-largest cinema chain, with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 11 countries: the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Israel, Hungary, Czechia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The group's primary brands are Regal (in the US), Cineworld and Picturehouse (in the UK & Ireland), Cinema City (throughout Europe) and Yes Planet (in Israel).

Across the Cineworld estate there are seven different ways in which their customers can watch a movie: 2D, 3D, 4DX, IMAX, Superscreen, VIP and ScreenX. As of April 2018, across the European estate there are 38 4DX screens, 35 IMAX screens and 12 VIP auditoriums. Out of 45 cinemas in the world that are fitted with IMAX with Laser projection systems, two are in the UK, both belonging to Cineworld, located in Leicester Square and Sheffield.

Cineworld continues to expand and enhance their estate, with an extensive ongoing build and refurbishment programme. In 2017, the company opened nine new cinema locations with a total of 109 screens; four of which were in the UK and five in the rest of Europe.Throughout 2018, the company opened 13 new locations with 108 screens in total, six in the United States, six in the United Kingdom and one in Romania.

According to en.wikipedia and Statista