UGC is the largest European cinema operator with, as of October 2004, 92 sites and 929 screens across six countries:

• UK: 41 cinemas, 391 screens
• France: 40 cinemas, 365 screens
• Spain: 5 cinemas, 88 screens
• Belgium: 4 cinemas, 56 screens
• Ireland: 1 cinema, 17 screens
• Italy: 1 cinema, 12 screens

In 2002 they sold 64 million tickets.

UGC was originally a France-only operator, created in 1971 from a merger of regional cinema companies. The name stood for Union Générale Cinématographique; it is no more expanded today.

UGC’s arrival in the UK in October 1999 was a result of the acquisition of Virgin Cinemas.

The company is pretty much commerce-oriented, without significant aspirations towards promoting artistic cinema, unlike for example MK2.

In December 2004, UGC in the UK and Ireland was bought out by Cineworld.