Cinemark, the nation’s third largest movie chain, said revenues for the first quarter ended in March fell to $114 million from $543 million the year before.
Admissions revenues stood at $56 million and concession revenues $39 million. Attendance was 7.7 million, average ticket price was $7.25 and concession revenue per patron was $5.10. Shares were slightly higher in premarket trade as sales beat Wall Street consensus.
Cinemark posted a net loss of $208 million compared to $59.6 million the year earlier, or diluted loss per share of $1.75 versus $0.51.
‘We are now actively on the road to recovery,” said CEO Mark Zoradi, echoing comments by AMC CEO Adam Aron at AMC Entertainment Thursday and Marcus Theatres chief executive the year before. “We are highly optimistic about theatrical exhibition’s resurgence in the U.S. over the coming months on account of… the rapid pace of the vaccine rollout, improving consumer sentiment about returning to movie theaters, recent box office successes and confirmation of consistent product supply. On a global basis, we remain confident that, like the U.S., other countries will quickly recover as lockdowns reign in the virus and vaccines are more widely disseminated.”
As of March 31, Cinemark had 301 domestic and 78 international theatres open, showing a limited volume of new releases along with library content during reduced operating hours. Its aggregate screen count was 5,872 and the company had commitments to open six new theatres and 72 screens during the remainder of 2021 and 13 new theatres and 123 screens subsequent to 2021.
The company is hosting a conference call at8:30 am ET to discuss the numbers.