The stock prices of companies that own cinemas fell this week as market participants continue to lose confidence in the industry's expected short-term recovery. Lackluster domestic box office revenues over the weekend didn't help.
Share prices of companies such as AMC, Cineworld, Cinemark and Marcus all fell Monday. AMC's share prices dropped by more than 7% - bringing down its market capitalization to about $575 million. Since the start of the year, AMC's stock has dropped by more than 27%.
Meanwhile, Cinemark's shares fell by more than 5%. Its market capitalization dipped to $1.37 billion. Since January, the company's share price has fallen more than 67%. Marcus' share price dropped by 7% Monday and its shares are down more than 70% since the start of the year.
There were disappointing ticket sales over the weekend. According to a report by Comscore, box offices across North America earned $13.2 million only over the two-day period compared with $125.4 million in the same period last year.
The Warner Bros. movie "Tenet" sold $4.7 million in tickets over the weekend - down 26% from last week. The industry was relying on the film to restart the domestic box office. It has, however, earned about $214 million domestically since it premiered in August. Other movies that brought in relatively respectable ticket sales included Disney's "New Mutants" and Solstice Studios' "Unhinged."
Compared with one weekend ago ticket sales this past Saturday and Sunday were down by around 11.5%. The figure is expected to decline in coming weeks because there are no big releases until November. The next release in theaters in North America is Disney's superhero film "Black Widow" which is expected to premiere Nov. 6.
