Sometimes you don’t have to work that hard looking for a name. Empire Cinemas was formed in 2005 when Irish entrepreneur Thomas Anderson acquired 10 cinemas from Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld, one of which was The Empire Leicester Square. It made sense to leverage the heritage of this iconic theatre. The selling point was the hidden IRE in the name.‍

Empire, from the Latin imperium, meaning rule or command. First used in reference to the British Empire in 1772.