Steve Wiener Dies: Cineworld Founder Was 73
deadline.comSteve Wiener, who founded the UK-based exhibition chain Cineworld and spent 19 years at its helm, has died at the age of 73.
The New York-born exhibition executive – who spent 44 years working in the cinema business having started out as an usher – originally moved to the UK in 1992 as managing director for Warner Bros.
cinemas in Europe. Prior to this role, he was Vice President Of Operations at Plitt Theatres for a decade, running the Plitt and RKO cinemas in the greater New York and New Jersey areas. DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO: Wiener decided to branch out on his own and set up Cineworld in 1995, kicking off with the opening of the chain’s first cinema in the town of Stevenage, some 20 miles north of London, in 1996.
Talking about his original ambitions for the then 100-site Cineworld chain ahead of his departure as head of the company in 2014, Wiener said its growth had way exceeded his expectations. “In 1995, my wife Jenny and I wrote a business plan to start a cinema company,” he recalled. “We expected over a five-year period to open five to seven multiplex cinemas and sell it on to one of the big operators.
Read more on deadline.com
