Despite the strong box office performance of “Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” a slow October has led to a 5% year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue for Cinemark in its fourth quarter earnings report.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 reached $776 million compared to $814 million in 2024, an all-time fourth quarter record for Cinemark. That is consistent with the $2.18 billion domestic total for the quarterly box office, which marked a 7% year-over-year decrease from a 2024 in which “Wicked,” “Moana 2,” “Mufasa” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” carried the box office.
EPS: Cinemark’s quarterly earnings came in at 16 cents per share, short of Wall Street analyst forecasts.
Attendance: Despite strong turnout during the holidays, attendance slipped 13% year over year from 51 million to 44.3 million, with 29.6 million from the U.S. Admissions revenue hit $383.8 million for the quarter, down 6% from Q4 2024.
Concessions: Concessions revenue was $302.4 million, down from an all-time company high of $314 million the prior year quarter. The company hit an all-time high food and beverage per cap of $5.96.
“Cinemark delivered exceptional results in 2025 with box office performance that surpassed industry benchmarks, incremental market share gains, record-level proceeds from enhanced formats and non-traditional content, and all-time high concession sales and per caps.
Despite a softer-than-anticipated film slate, we generated our highest revenue since the pandemic and delivered solid Adjusted EBITDA with a robust Adjusted EBITDA margin,” stated Sean Gamble, Cinemark’s President and CEO. “Our accomplishments reflect our team’s consistent ability to execute, innovate, and elevate the moviegoing experience we create for our guests, and they are indicative of the strong operating agility, customer loyalty, and advantaged market position we have developed.”
The October box office for 2025 was a slow one, primarily driven by the Disney flop “Tron: Ares” with $73.1 million. Business picked up in November with the arrives of sequels to “Wicked” and “Zootopia,” but in the case of “Wicked: For Good,” less enthusiastic word-of-mouth led to a domestic run that was $132 million less for its predecessor while “Avatar: Fire and Ash” contributed $150 million less to the quarterly total than “Avatar: The Way of Water” did in December 2022.
Despite the year-to-year drop, the strong holds for “Zootopia 2,” “Avatar 3” and Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid” have given the 2026 box office a better start than 2025, which is currently 3.5% ahead of last year’s pace and should continue with a strong March that includes Pixar’s “Hoppers,” Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” and Universal’s “Reminders of Him,” all leading to the expected $1 billion-plus hit “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” on April 1.
