Cinema One records losses for first quarter

DESPITE maintaining revenue and seeing an incremental increase in operating profits, CinemaOne, parent company of Imax and Gemstone theatres, reported losses for the first quarter of the financial year ending on December 31, 2023.

In its unaudited financial statements shared on the TT Stock Exchange website last week, CinemaOne reported a loss after tax of $285,962 as compared to $29,913 in profits for the same period the year before.

Chairman Brian Jahra in his report said gross revenue for the period was on par with the year before at $4.54 million as compared to $4.59 million.

Gross profit saw a 12 per cent increase to $2.9 million and maintained its operating profit at $502,773 as compared to $497,445 for the same period the year before.

Jahra said global cinemas saw a 31 per cent increase in revenue in 2023 with movies such as Avatar, the Way of Water, Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Barbie making huge impacts at the box office, revenue from the cinema industry was still 15 per cent lower than pre-covid19 levels.

Writers and actors strikes in Hollywood affected the final quarter of last year until it ended in December. The strike triggered a lag in release dates of many titles.

Jahra said that while it is still expected that supply chain impacts of the strikes would somewhat slow growth in 2024 the company’s growth initiatives will assist it in offsetting the impact.

“As the movie slate steadily improves and actors return to their important roles in global marketing promotions the company looks forward to the upcoming releases of Bob Marley’s story in Universal’s One Love, Sony’s Madame Web, Warner Brothers’ highly anticipated Dune II and Godzilla x Kong the New Empire,” Jahra said.