Cineplex Inc. has recorded its best-ever second quarter, highlighting growing Canadian interest in movie theatres despite the rise of streaming giants like Netflix.
Cineplex, the largest movie theatre chain in Canada, announced a profit of $7.8 million for its second quarter of 2026, in contrast to a loss of $2.2 million during the same period last year, achieving the highest revenues for the April-to-June timeframe in the company’s history.
The Q2 growth comes as theatres continue to face stiff competition from streaming services. A 2024 report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission found that three-quarters of Canadians subscribe to services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
University of Toronto Cinema Studies Institute professor Charlie Keil said there has been a recent uptick of interest in going to the theatre again after overall ticket sales and attendance dropped heavily due to the pandemic.
Moviegoing was replaced by at-home streaming for many people during the pandemic and the years that followed, but box office revenue has rebounded after recovering first from the pandemic and then the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes, which led to production delays in 2024 and 2025.
Several popular movies were released this year to bring theatres back to health, Keil told The Epoch Times.
“To sustain a healthy quarterly profit, a theatre chain has to bring customers in consistently,” Keil said, noting that Cineplex has tried different strategies such as hosting special screenings of events like FIFA soccer games.
Jacob told investors during this week’s earnings call that these assets create multiple earning streams for Cineplex, but noted that it was the films themselves that drove the jump in revenue in the past quarter.
Keil agreed that the indoor complexes are not the main attraction for consumers.
‘Compelling Stories Can Bring Audiences’
Keil cited “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” as recently released films that “were almost guaranteed to be huge,” drawing in record audiences and driving up profits.Jacob told investors that family-oriented films were huge money-makers for Cineplex in the second quarter, noting that “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” became the first film of 2026 to exceed $1 billion in global earnings, while “Toy Story 5” set a new franchise opening record before joining the ranks of this year’s billion-dollar films.
“This demonstrates the appeal these beloved characters have across generations and show how compelling stories can bring audiences to theatres at scale,” Jacob said.
Keil said there were a number of movies that “over performed” at the box office as well, such as the “Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Project Hail Mary,” and “Michael.” “The Devil West Prada 2,” for instance, outperformed the original film. There were also some “true breakout hits” like “Backrooms” and “Obsession” that were released in the first quarter, but continued to draw in audiences into the spring months.
He noted that each of these films earned $200 million—or much more—domestically, which he characterized as “really encouraging numbers.”
Jacob noted that “Michael,” the 2026 biographical film about Michael Jackson, became the highest-grossing biopic of all time, whereas “Obsession” and “Backrooms” “exceeded industry expectations, ultimately becoming two of the highest-grossing horror films in Cineplex history.
2026 Expectations
Keil said things are looking good for Cineplex and the industry in general thanks to third-quarter films like “Spider Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey,” which he said “have proven to be monster hits.”“Megahits really drive people to think about the value of seeing a movie in theatres. The trick will be sustaining the momentum created by these two films,” he said. “It’s unlikely a hit of this magnitude will emerge in the late summer, but let’s see how well ‘The End of Oak Street,’ which could be a sleeper, performs.”
Whether the momentum will continue throughout the entire year will depend on viewers’ appetites for a theatre experience. Jacob noted, however, that some big titles are on the way during the last two months of the year.
“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” and “Godzilla Minus Zero” are expected to bring audiences in when they hit the big screen in November, and “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Jumanji: Open World,” set to debut in mid-December, are also expected to be massive hits.
Looking to the Future
Theatre operators like Cineplex have limited options to restore profitability in the future if there is another downturn, Keil said.“There is only so much chains can do. I would say that Cineplex has upped its service game—staff are determinedly friendly and helpful,” he said. “Adding more IMAX screens now looks to have been a wise move, because premium viewing formats are proving quite popular with audiences.”
But Cineplex has no control over how many audience-enticing movies will come its way in the months and years ahead.
“Ultimately, those audiences show up for films that they feel that they need to see in a theatre,” Keil said. “Right now, that is happening on a more frequent basis than it has for some time. Theatre owners have to hope that the distributors will keep delivering the goods.”
