Cineplex Reported December Box Office Revenues Of $48 Million

Cineplex reported December box office revenues of $48 million, which amounts to 65 per cent of box office revenues generated during the same month in 2019. Leading film performances in December included Avatar: The Way of Water, representing 62 per cent of the total box office. Other box office drivers included Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

The first two weeks of Avatar: The Way of Water’s opening in December were negatively impacted by winter weather systems and storms across Canada during the key holiday period. In addition, both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fell on weekends in 2022, further impacting attendance. Notwithstanding, Avatar: The Way of Water is already the seventh highest grossing film of all time and has been especially successful in driving premium format attendance. In fact, Cineplex attracted the highest percentage of moviegoers to premium offerings of any exhibitor in North America, with UltraAVX, VIP Cinemas, IMAX, D-BOX, 4DX, ScreenX and RealD 3D accounting for 85 per cent of the film’s box office revenues in December.

Cineplex’s content broadening strategy along with its strategic initiatives once again delivered strong results, enabling the Company to outperform the North American box office recovery by 633 basis points. International film product accounted for five of the top 20 films during the month of December. For each of these five films, Cineplex generated an impressive 30 to 80 per cent of the North American market share.

In addition, Cineplex’s diversified businesses continued with its strong performance, including an all-time December revenue record in the Location-Based Entertainment business and Player One Amusement Group revenues exceeding December 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.

“We continue to see tremendous momentum through our diversification initiatives, including our amusement and leisure businesses, expanded content through international film product and our distribution business, Cineplex Pictures. Earlier this month, we announced a theatrical distribution agreement with Lionsgate for its 2023 film slate, bringing 11 titles to Canadian audiences, including John Wick: Chapter 4, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” said Ellis Jacob, President & CEO, Cineplex. “As we move forward, we remain optimistic about theatrical movie-going and the strength of our diversified businesses, which have been an important pillar in the continued growth of the company,” Jacob concluded.