Type Private company Key people Selim Ramia (founder) | Headquarters Beirut, Lebanon Website grandcinemasme.com | |
Founded 2000 (Gulf Film LLC)
2007 (Selim Ramia & Co.) | ||
Grand Cinemas is a movie theatre chain operating in the Middle East.
Contents
Established in 2000, the Grand Cinemas franchise was originally run by Dubai-based Gulf Film LLC, branding several theatres throughout the United Arab Emirates it had been operating since 1989. In 2007, one of Gulf Film LLC's co-founders, Lebanese businessman Selim Ramia, established a separate corporation in Lebanon called Selim Ramia & Co. (SR&CO) as the owner of the Grand Cinemas franchise in the country. Since July 2007, Grand Cinemas took over several established theatres in Lebanon, mostly outlets formerly run by Circuit Planète. In 2012, SR&CO have successfully expanded the Grand Cinemas franchise into Jordan and Kuwait. Gulf Film LLC itself expanded Grand Cinemas into Qatar and Bahrain in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
Circa 2012, the original franchise owner Gulf Film LLC was acquired by the ELAN Group (formerly Qatar Media Services), and by 2014, all Grand Cinemas theatres it operated at the time were rebranded as Novo Cinemas. The Grand Cinemas theatres in Lebanon, Jordan, and Kuwait continue under the management of the SR&CO group.
History
The Grand Cinemas brand name was launched in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2000.
Established in 1989 in UAE, Gulf Film was acquired in 2012 by Qatar Media Services (q.media) (now known as the ELAN Group). The Grand Cinemas UAE operation is owned by Gulf Film and was relaunched as Novo Cinemas on May 6, 2014.