(Toronto) A ban on popcorn in Ontario and shutdowns in Quebec hampered the recovery of the country’s largest movie theater operator, Cineplex, over the Christmas holidays, even when Spiderman was coming for a rescue.
Posted at 11:03 a.m.
Updated at 5:19 p.m.
The Marvel Blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home drew moviegoers to multiplexes around the world in December, but in Canada a new wave of provincial restrictions related to the Omicron variant made it difficult for Cineplex to capitalize on the busiest movie season of the year.
“We probably lost about $7.0 million to $7.5 million in foodservice sales in Ontario,” Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob said in an interview.
“But what hurt us the most was that Quebec disconnected us in mid-December. »
The Quebec government imposed the closure of movie theaters as of December 20 in an attempt to reduce the contagion of the Omicron variant, a measure that ultimately remained in effect until Monday, February 7.
Cineplex narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to $21.8 million on the release of big titles, including director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi ‘Dune’ and the new episode of the James Bond spy adventures, ‘No Time to Die” (“Dying can wait”). The results represented a big improvement on the devastating loss of 230.4 million made a year earlier, when Canadian cinemas were closed due to pandemic restrictions.
However, this loss was still less attractive than the profit of 3.5 million recorded during the same period in 2019, i.e. before the pandemic.
Foodservice sales fell more than 17% due to the closure of movie theaters in Quebec and restrictions on food and beverage sales in Ontario in the latter half of December. Revenue from these services fell to $7.49 per customer from $9.06 a year earlier.
Many questions remain for the future of cinemas as COVID-19 restrictions gradually ease. Some provinces are considering eliminating the vaccine passport, and the actual impact of habits with streaming services on ticket sales continues to evolve.
home competition
Mr. Jacob said he was confident that 2022 would prove the strength of the theatrical window, referring to the release of The Batman and the sequel Top Gun as two surefire bets that will draw crowds and fuel cultural conversation.
“I don’t see people buying into the fact that Netflix has released a movie,” he claimed.
“They release a lot of movies, but most people don’t even know about them in some cases. »
However, Netflix certainly rallied viewers around at least two of its movies in Q4.
Conversations about satire Don’t Look Up spread like wildfire on social media before she landed an Oscar nomination for Best earlier this week. The film The Power of the Doganother Netflix production, has distinguished itself by winning the most nominations for the Oscars ceremony on March 27.
Also, Netflix bragged that the Ryan Reynolds action flick Red Notice has become one of his most watched titles.
Other signs of the waning influence of movie theaters have also surfaced.
Encanto by Disney, which played in Cineplex theaters in late November, achieved a respectable box office result in these uncertain times, but its cultural impact skyrocketed after it entered the Disney Plus streaming service the month last. After the animated musical became available at home, one of its songs skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 music chart.
Earlier this week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek used Encanto as an example of the changing times for his business. He told shareholders, “We do not subscribe to the belief that the movie theater is the only way to build a Disney franchise. »
Recently, Disney shifted gears on the movie Turning Redfrom its subsidiary Pixar, canceling its theatrical release in favor of a direct release on Disney Plus.
Mr. Jacob politely rebuffed these efforts.
“He is now the only studio that continues to experiment,” he argued. “Others are more attached to the idea of a reasonable window for cinemas and, for me, it is really very important for the future of our company. »
Cineplex said Friday its loss per share was 34 cents for the three months ended Dec. 31, which compared to a loss of $230.4 million, or $3.64 per share, for the past three months. of 2020.
Revenues totaled 300 million, up from 52.5 million a year earlier, while visitor numbers jumped to 10.2 million from 800,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Box office revenue soared to 125.9 million in the fourth quarter from 7.3 million a year earlier when movie theaters were closed for most of the quarter.