LONDON Jan. 14 (U.S.): Cineworld announced Friday that its December box office sales have recovered to nearly 90% of pre-pandemic levels with the help of the Marvel superhero movie “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which led to Its shares rose 3%. in early trade.
The world’s second largest theater operator said its cash flow turned positive in the last quarter after sales improved.
Film delays hurt turnout in November, and global restrictions to contain the Omicron coronavirus variant also affected demand.
Cinema operators have also been hit by streaming, but Cineworld has seen a gradual recovery since April helped in part by Marvel movies including “Black Widow” and “Eternals.”
The December sales update is likely to bring some relief to Cineworld after it was ordered last month to pay C$1.23 billion ($985 million) in damages to rival Cineplex for abandoning a planned acquisition, although Cineworld has appealed the decision, according to Reuters.
Several major Cineworld markets have refrained from strict lockdowns, while vaccinations have also helped. The company gets 90% of its revenue from developed countries in the field of vaccines such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” became the sixth highest-grossing movie in US box office history, grossing $668 million to date and surpassing 1998’s Oscar-winning Titanic. The superhero adventure was the first film of the pandemic era. Its global sales reach one billion dollars.
Group sales to Cineworld in December were 88% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, up from 56% in November.
AMC Entertainment Holdings, the biggest competitor, said last month that nearly 1.1 million people watched the new “Spider-Man” movie when it opened in US theaters, a record for the company.
Britain’s Cineworld, which also operates US-based Regal Cinemas, acknowledged challenges due to the pandemic but said a solid slate of 2022 releases, including “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Top Gun: Maverick”, gave it confidence.
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