Cineplex CEO applauds longer theatrical windows for new releases, downplays sale talk

TORONTO — Movie watchers might be disappointed they’ll be waiting longer to see some new releases from the comfort of their own couches, but for Canada’s largest cinema chain, it’s reason for applause.

Cineplex Inc. CEO Ellis Jacob said Monday that he was pleased with Netflix’s recent promise to release its latest Narnia film with a 49-day exclusive theatrical window in 2027.

The Netflix pledge came as other prominent studios have also committed to debuting dozens of their movies in theatres or extending their theatrical windows to at least 45 days, something Jacob sees as a win for moviegoers and cinemas alike.

“It actually takes away the confusion for the guest who’s coming to our theatre because now they know that that movie is not going to be online for a much longer period of time,” Jacob said in an interview.

“And what the studios are seeing is … we create the value for all the ancillaries because people talk about it, people go and see it, and it means a lot on an overall basis.”

Movie theatres like Cineplex have been urging studios and distributors to put their films in cinemas since streaming platforms became a growing part of the movie industry’s business model.

When theatres closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it pushed many toward shorter theatrical windows. Some films even skipped cinemas altogether.

But now that the health crisis has subsided, Jacob has seen the theatres wrestle back some debuts.

“When you look at Disney and Sony and some of the others, they’re going longer than that because they find it’s beneficial for their other platforms,” Jacob said.

But not everyone is on board with that model.

Netflix has long been the most staunch holdout, preferring to put movies on its streaming service.

“I’d like to see them have a window equivalent to the one for the other studios, but that to me is going to be a period of time before they get there because Ted is not a big believer in theatrical,” Jacob said, referring to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

“He prefers to be on the streaming side of things. That’s how he built his business.”

Jacob’s remarks came hours after Cineplex reported a loss of $22.4 million in its first quarter compared with a loss of $36.6 million a year earlier as its revenue rose 16 per cent.

The Toronto-based company’s loss amounted to 36 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31 and compared with a loss of 58 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

The numbers pushed the company’s stock down throughout the morning and afternoon. It closed the trading day down about nine per cent at $10.77.

The drop came despite Cineplex also reporting that its revenue totalled $291 million for the quarter, up from $251.7 million in the first quarter of 2025.

While box office and food service revenues were up as films including “Project Hail Mary” coaxed audiences to theatres, returns in the company’s advertising business were almost 19 per cent lower than a year ago.

Cineplex blamed some of the decrease on the Winter Olympics, which temporarily diverted advertising spending toward live sporting events, and the pharmaceutical industry which dropped a lot more cash on marketing last year than this year.

Meanwhile, theatre attendance amounted to 9.8 million patrons, up from 8.4 million a year earlier.

Box office revenue per patron was $12.94, up from $12.14 in the same quarter last year, while concession revenue per patron was $9.54, up from $9.13.

Just after the quarter wrapped, Bloomberg reported in mid-April that Cineplex was sounding out peers Regal Cineworld Group and Cinemark Holdings Inc. to gauge whether they’d want to buy the company.

Asked about the report Monday, Jacob, who is set to retire by the end of the year, said, “I can’t really comment on speculations.”

“I think it was a year or a bit ago there was another rumour that we were going to sell, so you know if something is valid and it benefits our shareholders, we’ll look at it, but at this point it’s just a lot of talk and with the momentum in Q1, I think we are in a good position to continue to strengthen the company going forward,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2026.

Companies in this story: (TSX: CGX)