In a time with endless debates about where movie theaters are going in our streaming HD society, at least one of the megaplex chains can feel confident that there’s still people who want the big screen experience.
On Thursday, the Plano, Texas-based Cinemark Holdings (whose Cinemark theaters not coincidentally have some of the cheaper ticket prices among the big chains) released its third-quarter earnings report. In the report, the chain noted that attendance rose 16.4 percent since the same period last year to an all-time high of 81 million patrons. That attendance is split across both the US, with 50.6 million patrons and a 23 percent improvement, and Latin America, with 30.4 million patrons and a 6.8 percent improvement. (Interesting side note: They are the largest movie theater chain in Brazil and have 161 theaters across Latin America, giving them the widest spread of any chain in that area.) While the average ticket price went up slightly and is now $5.92, the concession revenue, where most theaters make their money, also increased 4.2 percent. The overall box office for this past summer was up 6.4 percent from the year before, which certainly also contributed to these numbers.
In the face of this news, Cinemark CEO Tom Warner said “… our worldwide operations have now outperformed the North American industry in 17 of the past 18 consecutive quarters on a currency adjusted basis.” Impressive for a chain that’s only about to celebrate its thirtieth birthday.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
