Everyman: Dune 2 and Bob Marley films will help cinema ‘outperform’ in 2024
Movies such as ‘Dune: Part II’ and ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ are set to help Everyman outperform 2023 this year, the boss of the sofa-clad cinema chain has said.
In its full year 2023, Everyman reported double digit revenue and profit growth, sending shares up over four per cent on Tuesday.
Revenue grew 15 per cent to £91m and pre-tax profit jumped nearly 12 per cent to over £16m. This was due to a rise in admission after hit movies last year including Barbie, Oppenheimer and Wonka.
The average food and drink spend per person rose from £9.34 in 2022 to £10.29 in 2023, while the average ticket price rose 36p to £11.29 this year.
Everyman, which opened six new sites last year, is set to open at least another three in 2024, in Bury St Edmunds, Stratford and Cambridge. It has a further four in the pipeline for 2025.
Speaking to Morning Wire, chief executive Alex Scrimgeour said it was “really pleasing” to see a strong performance despite the writers and actors strikes in Hollywood jeopardising content releases.
“We’re feeling optimistic about our prospects and 2024 has had a very strong start…we feel positive momentum going into 2024,” he said.
This year will outperform 2023, Scrimgeour added, especially due to large titles such as Bob Marley: One Love and the “spectacular, breathtaking” Dune II, starring Timothee Chalamet.
Although there has been some impact in production due to the strikes, he expects cinema to be fully back to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.
“I think that’s really encouraging and we’ll be placed to take advantage of that.”
Canaccord Genuity analyst Mark Photiades said Everyman is “well positioned for future success” although it should perhaps be concerned about low brand awareness compared to its rivals like Vue and Odeon.
But Scrimgeour sees this as an opportunity. “It’s my mission to change that,” he said, “So we signed a new digital marketing agency and…one of our goals is to increase brand awareness.”