Cineplex plans to further invest in entertainment centres amid a slow period at the box office.
As part of its Q1 2024 earnings release this week, Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob mentioned “location-based entertainment” — including the likes of arcades, VR attractions and restaurant options — as a way to increase revenue.
Cineplex currently has 13 Playdium, The Rec Room and Junxion entertainment centres, which offer arcade games, dining, live shows and more. The company is also set to add three more to that lineup later this year; Toronto’s Fairview Mall will get a Playdium arcade, while two new Rec Rooms will come to downtown Vancouver and Montreal’s Royalmount mall complex.
In a conference call, Jacobs said Cineplex aims to eventually expand to 30 of these entertainment venues across Canada. According to him, this could bring in an additional $75 million in annual revenue.
Still, the box office remains Cineplex’s main source of revenue, and that business actually performed better than average. In Q1 2024, the company’s box office revenue rose one percent year-over $125.1 million at the box office, versus a more than five percent drop across North America.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jacobs attributed this success, in part, to Quebecois director Denis Villeneuve’s local promotion of 2024 box office leader Dune: Part Two. On February 28th, Villeneuve and star Timothée Chalamet hosted the Canadian premiere of the film in Montreal’s Fairmount Cinema, and Jacobs said this made the theatre the highest-grossing in North America.
What the company didn’t mention, however, is its controversial online booking fees. They’re the source of ongoing lawsuits and have earned the theatre chain more than $40 million so far.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Source: Cineplex
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