Cineplex Reports Highest Ever First Ten Days Of April Box Office

Cineplex Inc. (“Cineplex” or the “Company”) reported its highest ever April box office for the first ten days of the month, reaching over $30 million in box office revenues, compared to $14 million in 2019 for the same period. The blockbuster performance of The Super Mario Bros. Movie this past weekend, which generated $204.6 million at the domestic box office over its 5-day weekend and set a record for an animated title in its opening weekend, was a key driver to our box office success.

Cineplex welcomed 1.1 million guests over the three-day Easter holiday weekend, making it the busiest weekend so far in 2023. This weekend also saw Amazon’s theatrical release, Air, delivering strong attendance among adults. While The Super Mario Bros. Movie enjoyed a healthy percentage of Cineplex’s box office, other titles including John Wick: Chapter 4, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Air brought meaningful contributions to Cineplex’s overall box office results. In addition, Avatar: The Way of Water continues to have strong legs, now in its 17^th weekend, and representing Cineplex’s 10^th highest grossing title.

This past weekend marked another significant milestone for the CineClub subscription program as it reached 100,000 members. Launched in August 2021, the entertainment subscription program is the first of its kind in Canada and has been successful in increasing and driving frequency in attendance. The steady and consistent growth in CineClub’s membership is another indication of consumer demand for movie-going.

“The success of these record-breaking results demonstrates a point you’ve heard me say in the past – when there is compelling content, consumer enthusiasm for theatrical moviegoing is as strong as ever. The success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is just another example of strong consumer demand for seeing great films on the big screen,” said Ellis Jacob, CEO & President, Cineplex. “As we move forward, we are encouraged about the steady flow of content, including the commitment streamers are making to theatrical. We are excited about the strong results we are witnessing in April as it reflects a healthy box office across an expansive range of films and genres. We look forward to many more highly anticipated films set to hit the big screen over the next few months including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X, The Little Mermaid, Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse, Indiana Jones 5 and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible 7 Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer, Barbie, and many more,” Jacob concluded.

In the month of March, Cineplex reported box office revenues of $41 million, which amounts to 65 per cent of box office revenues generated during the same month in 2019. This followed encouraging results in January and February, where in each month the Company’s box office reached 88 per cent of 2019 levels for the same month, leading to aggregate quarterly results of $123 million or 79 per cent of 2019.

The top three leading film performances during March included John Wick: Chapter 4, Creed III, and Scream VI, all generating more domestic box office revenues in their opening weekend than any previous version in their respective franchises in the pre-pandemic periods, clearly demonstrating strong consumer demand. These three titles represented a combined 45 per cent of Cineplex’s total box office for the month.

While these films performed well, March 2019 is a tough comparative period as it included Captain Marvel which opened in early March and generated over $150 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend and over $425 million during its full run.