Cinemark lost $142 million in the second quarter of 2021. While the movie-theater chain topped analysts’ revenue estimates, it lost 12 cents more per share than anticipated.
The company lost less money in this Q2 than the previous one as theaters slowly but surely began to reopen. Last year’s second quarter saw losses exceed $170 million. By the final day of the recently wrapped quarter, all 323 domestic Cinemarks were reopened. Of its 198 international theaters, 152 had reopened.
While the reopened theaters were showing primarily new movies, they were operating under reduced hours. Some of the top second quarter (April-June) releases included “Cruella,” “In the Heights,” “A Quiet Place Part II” and “F9: The Fast Saga.” “Godzilla vs. Kong” came out on the final day of Q1.
Wall Street forecast a Q2 loss per share of -$1.07 on $262.8 million in revenue, according to a consensus estimate of media analysts compiled by Yahoo Finance. Cinemark reported a loss per share of -$1.19 on $294.7 million in revenue.
“I’m pleased to report that the second quarter recovery of our industry and business progressed at a faster rate than we expected with the North American industry box office more than tripling first quarter results,” Mark Zoradi, Cinemark CEO, said in a statement on Friday. “For Cinemark, the second quarter improved so materially that we were able to substantially reduce our net loss during the quarter and our domestic operations delivered positive Adjusted EBITDA for the first time since our theaters were forced to temporarily shut down last year.”
“While the recovery of Latin America continues to lag the U.S. by two to three months driven by the status of the virus, all data points and financial metrics are trending in the right direction,” he continued. “We remain confident in the global resurgence of theatrical exhibition as COVID-19 is contained. We have already witnessed this phenomenon in various parts of the world and we have now experienced it firsthand with North America’s second quarter box office results.”
Shares in Cinemark closed Thursday at $15.35 apiece. The stock market reopens a 9:30 a.m. ET.
An hour earlier, at 8:30 a.m. ET, the outgoing Zoradi and other top Cinemark executives will host a conference call to discuss the quarter in greater detail.
Last week, Cinemark announced that Zoradi will be stepping down at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by the theater chain’s CFO, Sean Gamble.
In a statement, Cinemark said that Zoradi had initially intended to retire in 2020 but stayed on after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the chain to shut down its theaters. “Clearly, he had no idea how long it would last or the significant impacts it would have on our industry,” the company’s statement read. “As theatrical moviegoing is resurging, now felt like an appropriate time for this announcement.”
“Mark has consistently stated that participating in the exhibition side of the business and leading Cinemark over the course of the past six years has been invigorating and he treasures the time spent at Cinemark and the relationships forged. While retirement from the day-to-day is never an easy decision, Mark is ready to slow down a bit and travel less – those weekly flights between LAX and DFW are grueling,” it continued.
Zoradi, who has worked in movie theaters for 40 years, became CEO of Cinemark in 2015.