Cineplex Inc. has experienced its highest second quarter in the company’s history, in large part due to a rising number of movie-goers in recent months, according to the company.
Canada’s largest cinema chain reported a profit of $7.8 million in its second quarter in 2026, compared to a loss of $2.2 million a year earlier, posting its best revenues for the April through June period in the company’s history.
Theatre attendance also amounted to 12.7 million patrons, up from 11.6 million a year earlier at the same time of year.
“This quarter’s success was not dependent on a single blockbuster or a small number of tentpole releases. Instead, consumers embraced a broad range of compelling content across multiple genres and formats,” Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.
Experts say the answer is simple: consumers feel the movies are worth going to the theatre for.
“There have been a series of very high-earning films over this quarter,” Charlie Keil, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Cinema Studies Institute said.
Some of those films include Michael, the Super Mario Galaxy World, Toy Story 5, A Great Awakening and The Drama, among others.
“These are blockbusters that are bringing in people in droves and probably people who were not normally going to films as often as they used to in the past.”
Keil also noted that movies such as Backrooms and Obsession that were released in the first quarter of the year continued unexpected success into the spring months of 2026.
“If people get in the habit of going to movies and there’s another appealing title just around the corner, that will keep that flow of patrons going.”
Most of the movies that have skyrocketed in popularity already have “existing properties” that draw consumers into seeing the film when it initially comes out, Martin Lefebvre, chair of the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University said.
“The Mario Brothers, there’s been movies before, and of course it’s a video game. The same thing with Toy Story, which is the fifth installment of the series, even The Odyssey to some extent, the story has been told many times,” he said.
“Even to some extent, a film like Backrooms had a following before the film came out in the theaters because it had a presence on the internet. If anyone had a surefire recipe to ensure box office hits, they would certainly use it.
Airing FIFA World Cup games at Cineplex locations during the tournament introduced viewers “to other events other than just movies,” Jacob stated.
Cineplex was the only company in Canada offering fans the opportunity to see matches on the big screen, and one of only a “handful” across North America providing the experience at scale, Jacob said on the earnings call, also adding that showing those FIFA matches “demonstrated the broader opportunity for Cineplex to be part of large cultural moments.”
