Exhibition giant Cinemark Holdings on Friday revealed its first-quarter financial results, with a sharply narrower loss due to higher revenues compared to a year ago.
Cinemark saw total revenue increase 19 percent to $643.1 million, versus total revenue of $540.7 million in 2025. Admission revenue for the three months through March 31, 2026 was $311.4 million, compared to the previous year’s $264.1 million, while concession revenue reached $255.2 million, ahead of the $210.4 million recorded in the same period a year 2025.
Cinemark said it hosted 24 million visitors in U.S. theaters during the first quarter, a 17 percent increase over last year’s levels. The net loss attributable to Cinemark was $6.4 million, compared to a net loss of $38.9 million last year.
“Our first quarter results represent the strongest first quarter since the start of the pandemic across all revenue and EBITDA categories, with significant net revenue growth and margin expansion,” Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said in a statement accompanying its latest financial results.
Gamble noted that 17% of his company’s global box office came from alternative content during the first quarter, while 13% of its worldwide admission revenue came from premium large format (PLF) screens, including XD, Imax and ScreenX.
The rise of event cinema has led exhibitors such as Cinemark to acquire new locations for PLF screens, or leverage their own branded premium screens, in an attempt to obtain more assured revenue streams. This is a bet that in the streaming era, movie viewers will continue to leave their living rooms at home for the local multiplex to watch Hollywood releases.
Cinemark is investing in adding to its portfolio of PLF locations, which includes its XD screens. “Because we aim to create memorable, larger-than-life entertainment that can’t be found at home or anywhere else, we are focused on ensuring our guests have a premium moviegoing experience at Cinemark no matter which auditorium they choose,” the company said in its executive summary on Friday.
On a morning analyst call, Gamble spoke after CinemaCon about the current negotiations between studios and exhibitors over the now-evolving theatrical window about 45 days before movies are available in homes. “There is recognition that the short period has created headwinds in the full recovery of attendance, particularly for smaller titles and casual moviegoers,” he said.
Gamble added that the link between the prevailing theatrical window and opening weekend audiences has been imprecise, but with studios opting for longer runs, “the recent window shifts have been an important reset in the right direction, based on significant cuts that may have gone a little too far over the past few years.”
Movie windows have been dramatically short at 17 days or 31 days for larger Hollywood titles as the streaming era takes hold during the pandemic. Gamble also urged his major studio suppliers to organize tentpole releases as another building block to restore theatrical attendance to pre-pandemic levels over time.
“We’ve seen some of that kind of clumping, and we were hoping that some of the things that were programmed this summer would be rolled out earlier in the year,” he said. Gamble was also asked about Paramount CEO David Ellison telling moviegoers that his combined studio would release 30 films theatrically each year after completing its Warner Bros. acquisition.
“The positive thing is that they are saying all the right things in terms of their future intentions in terms of film and window volume in a combined company, which is a great start… We would just like to see those statements backed by firm commitments,” Gamble told analysts.
He also welcomed Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who will attend CinemaCon, as Ellison did, for talks with major exhibitors. “While I don’t necessarily expect any kind of material turnaround on their part in the near term, after this meeting, we still believe there is a mutual opportunity in partnering together, and we remain optimistic that they will pursue a more significant project into theatrical distribution over time,” Gamble said after Netflix put the show together. Strange things The end and K-pop demon hunters sing along In theaters, though, it has effectively upended the exhibition business through the dominance of its streaming platform.
