{"id":39345,"date":"2026-08-11T21:26:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39345"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:26:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:26:59","slug":"cineplex-ceo-says-gen-z-is-ready-to-go-to-the-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39345","title":{"rendered":"Cineplex CEO Says Gen Z Is Ready to Go to the Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tEllis Jacob, CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/cineplex\/\" id=\"auto-tag_cineplex_1\" data-tag=\"cineplex\">Cineplex<\/a>, says young audiences are driving Hollywood\u2019s box office rebound by heading back to the multiplex in big numbers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThe big change is Gen Z are coming back to the movies in a big way, and that\u2019s making a difference,\u201d Jacob told <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> on Tuesday after the Canadian exhibitor posted second quarter financial results where Cineplex swung to a profit and higher overall revenues on box office draws like <em>The Odyssey<\/em> and <em>Michael<\/em>, in addition to younger audiences embracing breakout horror pics in <em>Obsession <\/em>and <em>Backrooms<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe better news may be Gen Z are also ditching their phones when coming out to movies for outings with friends and family. \u201cThey\u2019re tired of looking at the small screen. They\u2019re going out on a social basis and having a good time and that to me is very positive,\u201d Jacob added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGen Z are not only seeing movies a second or third time in theaters, but they have a range of platform options at Cineplex, from VIP auditoriums to premium screen experiences like the Imax, 4DX, Screen X and Ultra AVX platforms. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tOn Tuesday, Cineplex reported a record second quarter revenue up nearly 10 percent to $383.7 million as theater attendance rose 9.3 percent to 12.7 million patrons. And the company swung to net income at $7.8 million for the latest financial quarter, compared to a net loss of $2.2 million in the same period of 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe Canadian cinema chain posted second quarter box office revenues up 11 percent to $176.2 million, compared to a year-earlier $158.4 million when <em>Jurassic World Rebirth<\/em> and <em>F1: The Movie <\/em>played on its screens. That represented the highest second quarter box office for Cineplex since 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe second quarter performance for Cineplex comes after the wider exhibition industry has seen gains from a steady and diverse supply of Hollywood tentpole releases and surprise horror pics like\u00a0<em>Backrooms<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Obsession<\/em>, to get film lovers back in the habit of going to the multiplex. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tCineplex set all-time quarterly records for box office per patron at $13.91 and concession sales per patron at $10.26. Impressive box office for Christopher Nolan\u2019s epic drama\u00a0<em>The Odyssey<\/em>, followed by equally strong ticket sales for Spider-Man: <em>Brand New Day<\/em>, has allowed exhibitors like Cineplex to look to full-year 2026 box office likely to exceed the comparable performance for last year, and possibly set a new annual record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tJacob on an earlier morning analyst call argued \u201ca broad range of compelling content across multiple genres and formats\u201d more than any one Hollywood tentpole drew Canadians to his theaters. These included family-friendly films like\u00a0<em>Toy Story 5<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tLionsgate\u2019s <em>Michael<\/em> biopic also became the highest grossing film of all-time distributed by\u00a0Cineplex\u00a0Pictures, the exhibitor\u2019s distribution arm. \u201cThe momentum we are seeing in the business is translating into stronger profitability, cash flow generation and balance sheet flexibility,\u201d Jacob said of the  positive impact of Hollywood\u2019s box office rebound and a consistent and diversified film slate on  Cineplex\u2019s bottom line. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe strong box office during the second quarter helped offset a 3.7 percent fall in location-based entertainment revenues at $32 million as lower consumer spending due to a slowing Canadian economy weighed on revenues at its out-of-home amusement complexes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tJacob also gave an update on succession plans at Cineplex after he announced a year ago he would remain CEO of the company until the end of 2026, <a data-id=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/cineplex-ceo-ellis-jacob-retire-1236301194\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/cineplex-ceo-ellis-jacob-retire-1236301194\/\">as planned, <\/a>to assist a transition to new leadership. \u201cI\u2019m preparing to retire by the end of the year, and the board is managing the process and it\u2019s well underway,\u201d he told analysts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex, says young audiences are driving Hollywood\u2019s box office rebound by heading back to the multiplex in big numbers. \u201cThe big change is Gen Z are coming back to the movies in a big way, and that\u2019s making a difference,\u201d Jacob told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday after the Canadian exhibitor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ellis-Jacob-CinemaCon-Speaking-Onstage-GettyImages-951252814-H-2024.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}