A popcorn ban across Ontario and movie theatre closures in Quebec hurt the fourth quarter results of Cineplex (CGX) just as the new Spider-Man film arrived to improve box office fortunes.
Marvel's blockbuster movie ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ which has earned $1.8 billion U.S. at the global box office, attracted moviegoers back to theatres around the world in December. But in Canada, a new wave of restrictions tied to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 made it tough for Cineplex to capitalize on the busy holiday movie season.
Cineplex narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to $21.8 million in the period that ended December 31, on the back of major draws that also included films such as ‘Dune'’ and James Bond's ‘No Time to Die.’ The results were an improvement over the devastating loss of $230.4 million a year earlier when Canadian cinemas were closed nationwide due to pandemic restrictions.
However, the tighter loss was still well below a profit of $3.5 million booked in the same pre-pandemic period of 2019.
Concession sales fell more than 17% as Quebec closed theatres in December and Ontario restricted food and drink sales during the final half of the month. Snacks revenue dropped to $7.49 per patron from $9.06 a year earlier, said Cineplex.
After the quarter's end, Cineplex's Ontario theatres were shut down completely under provincial mandate. They reopened at the end of January, while Quebec locations started operating again in early February.
Many questions linger for the future of cinemas as COVID-19 restrictions gradually ease and some provinces weigh eliminating vaccine passports. Meanwhile, the true impact of streaming habits on ticket sales continues to evolve.
Cineplex said its quarterly loss amounted to $0.34 per diluted share for the quarter ended December 31 compared with a loss of $230.4 million or $3.64 per diluted share in the last three months of 2020.
Overall revenue totalled $300 million compared with $52.5 million a year earlier as theatre attendance rose to 10.2 million compared with 800,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Box office revenue rose to $125.9 million during the fourth quarter, compared with $7.3 million a year earlier when theatres were largely shutdown.
