It’s a record first for the post-pandemic exhibition industry with Cinemark finally sliding back into the black on its balance sheet, with positive indicators across the board. To share the good news, we have Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney, Brandon Blake, to break out the facts and figures.
Successful Q4 Profit and More
Cinemark reported Q4 revenue of $814M, a 27% increase year-on-year, and actually 3% higher than its 2019 pre-pandemic Q3. They took home a profit of $51.3M (last year was an $18 loss), and posted an EBITDA of $156.9M— almost double the $79.6M of the same period last year.
It's great to see the broad recovery we noted in the domestic cinema industry last year translate so strongly into positive territory, despite the dual strikes of 2023 causing knock-on impacts on the 2025 release schedule and some throttling of the content pipeline. It may be time to admit that movie-going is back in the US public consciousness in a big way.
However, even Cinemark itself noted that this relies on the steady supply of both tentpoles and small and medium production slates to the theatrical market.
Looking to the Future
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble seems confident, however, that this recovery can be built on in both 2025 and 2026, based on current content slate plans. This will also be the first time Cinemark’s annual cash dividend will be reinstated, at 32 cents per share, quite a milestone for their post-COVID recovery.
Overall, Cinemark takes home a 26.1% increase in admissions revenue, a massive 29% jump in concessions revenue, and announced its average ticket price is currently $7.97, with concessions per patron sitting at about $6.15. They were host to 32.6M patrons over the Q4 period.
This is certainly some fantastic news, both for Cinemark itself and the domestic exhibition industry overall. It looks like we are fast reaching a point where we can completely shrug off the pandemic’s ongoing impact on the cinema industry.
