🎬 UK & Ireland Cinema Showtimes Scraper | Apify Actor

Extract accurate, up-to-date cinema showtimes in the UK & Ireland from official cinema websites.

This Apify Actor is a production-ready cinema showtimes scraper built to collect movie schedules, screening formats, availability, and booking links at scale.
It is designed for data teams, analysts, media planners, aggregators, and developers who need reliable cinema data without maintaining fragile custom scrapers.

Typical use cases include cinema schedule monitoring, release tracking, dashboards, content aggregation, and competitive analysis.

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⭐ Why Use This Actor

🧩 Purpose-built for cinema data
Scrapes showtimes directly from official cinema websites — not third-party aggregators.

⚡ Fast and scalable
Parallel execution with proxy-aware logic for high-traffic cinema chains.

🎯 Flexible output control
Choose how much data you receive using configurable data tiers.

📊 Analysis-ready results
Clean, normalized output designed for CSV exports, dashboards, and BI tools.

🌍 UK & Ireland focused
Coverage tailored specifically to UK & IE cinema networks and site structures.

🛠 Built for extension
Designed to grow with new cinema chains and custom requirements.

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🚀 What This Actor Does

• Scrapes official cinema websites (starting with Cineworld)
• Collects movie showtimes by cinema and venue
• Normalizes data into a structured, consistent format
• Supports UK & Ireland coverage
• Runs reliably on the Apify platform or locally for development

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⭐ Key Features

• UK & Ireland cinema showtimes scraping
• Tier-based cinema selection (Tier 1–4)
• Multiple data tiers controlling output depth
• Configurable date range and time format
• Parallel scraping for faster runs
• Proxy-aware design for high-traffic sites
• Output optimized for CSV, JSON, BI tools, and APIs

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🎬 Cinema Tiers Explained

Cinema Tiers define which cinemas are included in a run. Each higher tier includes all cinemas from the previous tiers, plus additional ones.

This allows you to control coverage, data volume, and cost based on your needs.

🧪 Tier 0 — Starter Tier

Minimal data · Testing & validation

• Designed for quick testing and schema validation
• Includes a single lightweight cinema
• Ideal for checking output structure before running larger tiers

Included cinemas:

• GlasgowFilmUK

Proxy usage: Not required

🎯 Tier 1 — Core Tier

Lowest volume · Highest-value cinemas

• Major national cinema chains
• Stable structure and high-quality data
• Optimized for production use with predictable result size

Included cinemas:

• CineworldUK

Proxy usage: Required

📈 Tier 2 — Expanded Tier

Broader coverage · Moderate data growth

• Includes Tier 1 cinemas

• Adds additional high-traffic cinema chains

• Suitable for analytics, dashboards, and reporting

Included cinemas:

• CineworldUK
• (More cinemas coming soon)

Proxy usage: Required (Will be Used for only Tier 1 cinemas)

🧠 Tier 3 — Advanced Tier

Market-wide view · Higher data volume

• Includes Tier 1 & Tier 2 cinemas

• Adds regional and mid-size cinema chains

• Ideal for competitive intelligence and trend analysis

Included cinemas:

• CineworldUK
• GlasgowFilmUK
• (More cinemas coming soon)

Proxy usage: Required (Will be Used for only Tier 1 cinemas)

🌍 Tier 4 — Complete Tier

** Maximum coverage · Full market monitoring**

• Includes all supported cinemas

• Adds small, niche, and independent venues

• Best for enterprise use cases and full-market tracking

Included cinemas:

• CineworldUK
• GlasgowFilmUK
• (All remaining cinemas as they are added)

Proxy usage: Required (Will be Used for only Tier 1 cinemas)

✅ Important notes

• Selecting a higher tier automatically includes all lower tiers
• Higher tiers return more results and may incur higher usage-based costs
• Tier composition will expand over time as new cinemas are added

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📥 Input Configuration

The Actor accepts a JSON input with the following parameters:

Field	Type	Description	Default
cinema_tier	string	Cinema tier to scrape (Tier 0–4)	Tier 0
number_of_days	integer	Number of upcoming days to scrape	7
data_tier	string	Output detail level	basic
date_format	string	Showtime format (strftime-style)	dd-mm-yyyy HH:MM
parallel_limit	integer	Concurrent cinemas processed	10

Example input:

{
  "cinema_tier": "Tier 1",
  "number_of_days": 7,
  "data_tier": "enhanced",
  "date_format": "dd-mm-yyyy HH:MM",
  "parallel_limit": 5
}

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📤 Output Overview

Each output row represents one movie showtime at one cinema venue.

Returned fields depend on the selected data_tier, allowing you to balance dataset size and detail.

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🧱 Data Tiers (Output Levels)

Data Tier	Typical Use
basic	Lightweight schedules and calendars
enhanced	Booking links, formats, accessibility
detailed	Movie metadata and assets
full	Venue details and geolocation

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📊 Output Fields by Data Tier

Core Fields (All Tiers)

Field	Description
cinema	Cinema brand
venue	Cinema location name
film	Movie title
show_time	Formatted showtime

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Enhanced Fields (enhanced, detailed, full)

Field	Description
show_format	IMAX, 3D, 2D, etc.
show_accessibility	Accessibility indicators
show_other_type	Special screening labels
sold_out	Sold-out flag
booking_url	Ticket booking URL

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Movie Details (detailed, full)

Field	Description
film_url	Movie details page
film_rating	Age rating
film_genre	Genres
film_duration	Duration in minutes
film_release_date	Release date
film_release_year	Release year
film_poster	Poster image URL
film_video	Trailer URL

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Venue Details (full only)

Field	Description
venue_url	Venue page
venue_address	Full address
venue_city	City
venue_state	Region
venue_zipcode	Postal code
venue_lat	Latitude
venue_lon	Longitude

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📄 Example Output (Full Data Tier)

[
  {
    "cinema": "Cineworld UK",
    "venue": "Cineworld Birmingham",
    "film": "Avatar 2",
    "show_time": "10-01-2026 14:30",
    "show_format": "IMAX",
    "sold_out": false,
    "booking_url": "https://www.cineworld.co.uk/booking/...",
    "film_rating": "12A",
    "film_genre": "Action; Adventure",
    "film_duration": 192,
    "film_release_date": "2026-12-16",
    "film_poster": "https://.../avatar2.jpg",
    "venue_city": "Birmingham",
    "venue_lat": 52.48,
    "venue_lon": -1.89
  }
]

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📦 CSV & Dataset Output

• All results are written to the default Apify dataset
• Export easily as CSV, JSON, or Excel
• Writing CSV files inside the Actor does not consume local disk space on Apify

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Can I scrape multiple cinema tiers in one run?
Currently, one tier per execution to keep performance and proxy usage predictable.

Are sold-out screenings included?
Yes. Sold-out showtimes are included with sold_out = true.

Is Apify Proxy required?
Tier 1: yes. Tier 2–4: no.

Can I scrape more than 7 days?
Yes, up to what cinema websites expose (commonly 14–30 days).

Can I run this Actor locally?
Yes, for development and testing. Production runs are recommended on Apify.

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🛠 Troubleshooting

Tier 1 fails immediately
Enable Apify Proxy or switch to Tier 2–4.

Empty dataset
Check date range, cinema availability, or temporary website issues.

High memory usage
Reduce parallel_limit or number_of_days.

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🤝 Support & Customization

Need additional cinemas, a custom output schema, scheduled monitoring, or private deployment?

If you want us to prioritize specific cinema chains, regions, or venues, or tailor the output for your workflow, feel free to reach out.

📧 Email: info@kerlvision.com
🌐 Website: https://kerlvision.com

This Actor is designed to be extended and customized for professional use.

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📈 Roadmap

• Additional cinema chains
• Multi-tier scraping in a single run
• Automated cinema discovery
• Country-level filtering
• Schedule change detection
• Monthly Subscription Plans

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🔒 Legal & Ethical Use

This Actor scrapes publicly available data from official cinema websites.
Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws and website terms.

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🎥 Reliable UK & Ireland cinema showtimes — ready for analysis.