Movie menu for Planet Hollywood

Planet Hollywood, the theme restaurant inspired by the movies, is to go back to the movies itself in an ambitious expansion planned with US cinema multiplex operator AMC, which will yield four 20 screen "megaplex" cinemas in the UK in the next three years, writes Richard Halstead.

The two companies will invest pounds 60m in leisure park sites near UK cities as part of a pounds 180m global investment strategy

Robert Earl, Planet Hollywood's charismatic founder and chairman, said that moving into combined cinema/restaurants was a logical step. "I want to see one of these in every capital city of the world, and I would really like to have one in the centre of London. The Odeon will have to watch out."

Mr Earl owns 28.5 per cent of Planet Hollywood. The shares closed at $26.25 on New York's Nasdaq exchange on Friday, up $2 on the week. After a successful float in the spring of last year, the shares fell to a low of below $20 on fears that Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr Earl's high profile Hollywood investors, would sell out. The shares have rallied in recent months as these fears have receded.