The summer’s biggest hits gave Cinemark a blockbuster July, driving the theater chain to its highest box office month ever, the company said Tuesday.
The Plano, Texas-based chain, which operates 516 theaters with 5,833 screens in the U.S., South and Central America under several banners, did not provide specific data on its box office receipts but said that the month’s results “corroborate the company’s sentiment that consumer demand for theatrical moviegoing is as strong as ever.”
The theater chain is riding the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” wave.
Warner Bros. “Barbie” pulled in $93 million in its second weekend and the celebration in pink has now netted more than $351 million domestically and $780 million worldwide.
Universal’s “Oppenheimer” has sold $174.6 million domestically following the biopic’s second weekend, where sales held up at $46.2 million. Worldwide, sales are nearing $405.6 million.
Cinemark also pointed to the latest installment of Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible” franchise, “Dead Reckoning Part One,” which remains among the top box office draws, with total sales of $139.1 million in the U.S. and $448.4 million internationally.
“This month’s record-setting result validates consumer enthusiasm for experiencing films in an immersive, larger-than-life, cinematic environment is as strong as ever,” said Cinemark President and CEO Sean Gamble in a statement.
“As has clearly been demonstrated time and again over the past two years, a theatrical release provides an elevated viewing experience that delights audiences, increases promotional impact, builds significant cultural moments, and generates enhanced value for all forms of content,” Gamble continued. “I’d like to commend our studio partners and the creative community for producing such compelling content, as well as our remarkable Cinemark team for driving these results.”
The company also pointed to a varied list of scheduled releases from Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” this week to Columbia Pictures’ “Napoleon” due out in November, as having the potential to maintain box office momentum this year.
That optimism may be tempered by the potential for the ongoing Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes to push studios to delay films that they need actors to promote.
The news was not embraced by investors, who sent the shares down slightly in morning trading. Cinemark stock slipped 13 cents, to $16.56, in light morning trading. The stock has changed hands between $8.28 and $19.73 in the past 52 weeks, and is nearly double its price at the start of the year.
One reason traders may be slow to embrace the shares Tuesday is that the company is due to report its second-quarter results on Friday.
It posted solid results for the first quarter, and is expected to report a profit of 48 cents per share for the April-to-June period, according to Zacks Investment Services. That would reverse the loss of 61 cents per share in the quarter the company posted last year
