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Cineworld are hoping summer blockbusters like Transformers: Age of Extinction will draw crowds back [PARAMOUNT]

Fans, it seems, would rather be watching the big games in Brazil than new movie releases. Box office takings were down 0.6 per cent in the first half of the year, partly blamed on the football tournament.

It has high hopes of summer release blockbusters however, like Transformers: Age of Extinction, in cinemas from Saturday, and Guardians of the Galaxy, out at the end of the month.

In a trading update the company said: “In the final weeks of the first half, as expected, admissions in certain countries have been lower due to the World Cup when compared to the same prior year period.”

The football effect can be gauged by the fact that audiences in Poland, Hungry, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Slovakia, none of which qualified for Brazil, were up by six per cent.