"go to the cinema" is a sentence of British English, you say "go to the movies" in American English. "Go to the cinema/movies" means "go to a cinema/movice theater to see a film/movie" in English; and it means “去看电影”(qù kàn diàn yǐng) in Chinese.

I usually go to the cinema on Sunday. 我通常在星期天去看电影。

在英语中是个固定词组，表示去电影院看电影。如果只是讲或翻译成去电影院在逻辑上是有歧义的，你可能是去看电影，也可能是去电影院工作，还有可能是去电影院做些宣传...

去电影院and去看电影 express the same meaing:see a movie 去电影院意味着要去电影院看一场电影

if you say 去电影院 it may mean you work there and just go to your working place... to express "to go to the cinema and watch a movie there" you must say 去看电影