Cinemark Rides Strong Second Quarter to $942.3 Million in Revenue
Cinemark blew past Wall Street projections for the second consecutive quarter, reporting revenue of $942.3 million Friday for the three months ending in June.
The results came off the back of hit films like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and represented a 27% leap in revenue over last year’s $744.1 million.
The Plano, Texas-based company posted net income of $119.1 million, or 80 cents per share, besting consensus projections of 54 cents per share. That reversed a year-ago loss of $73.4 million, or 61 cents per share.
The results sent Cinemark shares higher. The stock gained 4.5% in premarket trading, after closing Thursday at $17.32, more than doubling since the start of the year.
Admissions represented $478.4 million of the quarter’s revenue, up 25% from the $381.9 million in the 2022 quarter. Concession sales jumped 30%, to $373.4 million from $286 million last year.
The company, the third-largest theater chain in the U.S. with 5,812 screens in 42 states, said 64.4 million moviegoers passed through its doors during the quarter, a 24% increase over last year, representing a further recovery from the pandemic.
“The strength of the second quarter’s film lineup, supplemented with the ongoing benefits we are achieving from our strategic initiatives, translated into exceptional second quarter results across our entire global footprint,” said Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble in a statement.
“We believe box office performance witnessed year-to-date, and over the past two years, provides conclusive evidence that consumer enthusiasm to view compelling films in a shared, larger-than-life, cinematic environment is as strong as ever,” Gamble said. “We remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of theatrical exhibition, and Cinemark is well-positioned to capture an outsized portion of our industry’s ongoing recovery.”
Box office grosses in the U.S. and Canada reached $2.67 billion in the second quarter, up 15% from 2022, when “Top Gun: Maverick” became the biggest film of the summer.
The quarter began with the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which currently stands as the highest-grossing film of the year and the highest ever for Illumination with $574 million domestic and $1.35 billion worldwide.
That momentum continued into the summer season with films like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($353.6 million domestic gross in the quarter), “The Little Mermaid” ($277.4 million) and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” ($331 million).
Gamble has noted that the third quarter should bring more year-over-year increases thanks to the runaway success of Universal’s “Oppenheimer” and Warner Bros.’ “Barbie,” which have combined for over $570 million in domestic grosses and $1.25 billion worldwide.
Theaters have also seen strong numbers this past month from the breakout indie hit “Sound of Freedom” and are expected to see more sustained audience turnout in August and September from films like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “The Equalizer 3.”
Such films, while not expected to be end-of-year chart toppers, were not present this time last year, when a lack of new films caused monthly grosses to sink to lows not seen in more than 20 years.
In another sign of recovery from the pandemic, Cinemark said during the quarter it paid down $100 million in debt.
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