Can Movie Box Office Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels? Marcus HUB “Not ready to throw in the towel yet”

Marcus Corporation CEO Greg Marcus says he’s encouraged by the recent variety and consistency of feature films and is “not ready to throw in the towel” on the idea of ​​box office returns to preseason levels. pandemic.

In addition to one of the top national cinema circuits, the company also operates a number of hotel accommodations. Speaking to Wall Street analysts about the company’s quarterly earnings, Marcus noted a number of “nice, fun, short mid-range movies,” such as: A man named Otto. “Getting back into the habit of going to the movies” with a variety of film offerings will be key to the box office recovery, he said. “Not only can they feed us – we need lunch and we also need breakfast to have complete nutrition.” It will be an arduous and gradual process, he admitted.

Marcus reported mixed results for the quarter, partly due to a decline in the number of widely released films compared to 2021, with viewership down 24%. Revenue fell 4% from the year-ago quarter to $162.9 million, with the number of broad releases from 26 to 22 and a difficult comparison to 2021 Spider-Man: No Way Home Burden. Only about a week and a half gross Avatar: the way of water counted in the quarter ended 31 December.

Net loss per share was 30 cents for the quarter, above the 17 cents expected by Wall Street analysts and in the red after earnings of 18 cents per share in the 2021 quarter. Sales beat analysts’ forecasts.

Marcus shares, which have been under pressure since the outbreak of Covid in early 2020, lost 4% on above-average trading volume on earnings reports to close at $15.33.

“I’m not ready to throw in the towel on what the future holds,” the CEO said when asked about the “new normal” in movie theaters. “Suddenly the tone changes in a way I haven’t heard in a long time.” Referring to Netflix, he added: “For the last couple of years, Wall Street has frankly said, ‘Be like the company that gets $1,200 per subscriber on its stock value. …Don’t worry about anything else. Don’t worry about maximizing the value of your content. Don’t worry about your profitability. Forget about any other revenue stream – just get that one subscriber revenue stream.'” The new emphasis on profit and squeezing money out of the entire ecosystem spurs more than traditional studios to watch theaters, he added, pointing to Amazon’s upcoming one wide release Heaven.

Chief Financial Officer Chad Paris warned that supply chain issues are still likely to prevent a return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, but said that could happen soon if overall production continues to rise. In 2019, the last full year before Covid, total revenue was $11.4 billion, almost an all-time record, but 2022 brought in just $7.5 billion. As of last Sunday, the gross profit was at the same time about 47% higher on a year-on-year basis. “We’ll see where 24 and 25 end up,” Paris added, “but it’s not the stabilized number.”

During his prepared remarks on the call, Marcus cautioned, “While we’re clearly on our way back, that road won’t necessarily be a straight line.”