Attendance uptick leads Cineplex to record Q2

The theatre company posted quarterly revenues of $409.1 million, with franchise titles including Avengers: Infinity War driving box office revenues up nearly 10%.

Improved cinema attendance in Q2 led Cineplex to a record-setting second quarter, the exhibition and entertainment company announced Friday.

In total, year-over-year revenues increased 12.4% to $409.1 million, from $364.1 million the year before, spurred by a 9.7% increase in box office revenues.

Attendance was up 5% to 17.3 million, from 16.5 million in Q2 of 2017, with box office revenues climbing to $187.2 million, from $170.7 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA hit $67.8 million for the quarter, from $38.1 million a year ago.

Cineplex attributed the attendance increases to franchise titles including Avengers: Infinity War (which claimed 24% of the $187.2 box office total), Deadpool 2 (11.3%) and The Incredibles 2 (9.6%). The attendance uptick also led Cineplex to post record food-service revenues, which increased by 14.6% to $114 million for the quarter. Box office revenues per patron also rose by 4.4% to $10.82, from $10.36 in Q2 of 2017.

Outside of ticket sales and attendance, Cineplex also saw lifts across other areas of its business, with media revenues increasing by 11.5% to $40.8 million due to growth in cinema advertising and digital place-based media revenue. Meanwhile amusement revenues increased by 6.3% to $48.5 million due to contributions from the additional locations of The Rec Room.

On the digital front as well, Cineplex said that online and mobile ticketing represented 32.3% of its total in Q2, up from 22.5% a year ago.