Canadian cinema giant Cineplex has yet to reach pre-pandemic box office levels, but did shrink its third quarter loss as Canadians returned in strength to the local multiplex to embrace Hollywood blockbusters.
Cineplex cut its net loss by 72 percent to $33.6 million, compared to a loss of $121.2 million in 2020, when the company saw many of its theaters shuttered amid the coronavirus spread or operating at limited capacity. As those pandemic-era restrictions have largely lifted, overall revenues for the third quarter came to $250.4 million, against a year-earlier $61 million, as theater attendance rose 430 percent to 8.3 million patrons.
Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob told analysts after the company’s results were disclosed that the Hollywood box office recovery was expected to continue into 2022 as long as the pandemic didn’t undo strategic growth plans and a strong Hollywood film pipeline continued.