‘Spider-Man’ And Return Of Moviegoing Spark Big Q4 Comeback For Cinemark

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Cinemark came back to life in the fourth quarter, surging past Wall Street estimates to post its first quarterly profit since before the coronavirus pandemic.Revenue shot up to $666.7 million from just $98.2 million, far ahead of analysts’ consensus forecast for $601.3 million.Earnings per share came in at 5 cents on a diluted basis, a vast improvement from a loss of $2.03 in the year-ago quarter and well ahead of analysts’ expectation for a loss of 13 cents.Comparisons were bound to be favorable for the quarter ending December 31.

The fourth quarter of 2020 was about as bleak as it could be, with theaters still shut in many major markets and little to no supply of new releases as studios focused entirely on streaming.Even relative to the field, though, the No.

3 U.S. exhibitor performed well relative to the field. Cinemark said it surpassed North American industry box office performance by more than 700 basis points compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.Like other theater owners, Cinemark benefited from the return of genuine blockbusters in the quarter, notably Spider-Man: No Way Home.CEO Sean Gamble said even the onset of the Omicron variant during the quarter didn’t offset rising consumer confidence given the protections afforded by vaccines and boosters. “We are highly encouraged by recent favorable developments in the state of the virus, government restrictions and associated consumer sentiment regarding moviegoing,” he said in the earnings release.Along with this week’s results by Imax, the Cinemark numbers signal the exit of the exhibition sector from the worst of the pandemic, though the road is long.