Picturehouse Cinemas

Picturehouse Cinemas is a network of art house cinemas in the United Kingdom. As of January 2011 it has 19 sites, all in England and Scotland.

The first Picturehouse opened in Oxford in 1989, but many of its cinemas operated independently before being adopted by City Screen Ltd., the official trading name of the company. One of its branches, the Duke of York's Picture House in Brighton, opened in 1910 and is Britain's longest continually operating cinema. The company was co-founded by Lyn Goleby and Tony Jones.

The cinemas maintain a degree of independence distinct from cinema chains and multiplexes, and most of their promotional material is specific to individual cinemas rather than to the network as a whole. The range of films supposedly caters to less mainstream tastes than most commercial cinemas and there is an emphasis on independent, cult and foreign language films as well as local events. However, some sites also show more mainstream Hollywood films that they consider interesting, and the balance of programming may not always, therefore, differ from the mainstream.

The Picturehouse network is also differentiated from other chains by promotional activities that aim to encourage an interest in film, including membership schemes, printed programmes with comparatively in-depth background information about films, film festivals and themed seasons of screenings. The cinemas are generally small and centrally located compared to others recently opened in the UK, which are often large multiplex cinemas built on the edges of towns.

Picturehouse Cinemas show alternative content including National Theatre Live and Metropolitan Opera Live in HD.