DISNEY’S Avengers superhero movie and a wet Bank Holiday weekend proved the perfect combination for the UK’s largest cinema operator.

Cineworld, which has 79 cinemas and 811 screens, said admissions rose by 3.3% in the 19 weeks to May 10 – with the first two weeks of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble helping draw in the crowds amid the dreary weather.

The movie, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr, has already boosted Cineworld’s having broken box office records in its opening weekend in the US.

Revenues rose by 6.3%, helped by a 5% rise in average ticket prices and higher sales of food and drink. Sales for the first half as a whole are expected to be flat as Euro 2012 acts as a distraction.