Shares in Cineworld Group PLC (LSE:CINE) investors lifted by around 10% over the last five days as hordes of moviegoers headed to the big screen to watch two of 2023’s biggest films, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
The films both being launched on the same weekend and tackling two juxtaposing subject matters, sparked the online meme Barbenheimer, which challenges viewers to watch the films one after the other.
Vue said it experienced its busiest period in four years over the weekend, while Odeon claimed 200,000 tickets for the two films had been bought in the UK.
Friday’s launch day was the third busiest Friday ever for Vue and admissions for the day were at their highest since the pandemic.
In the US, Barbie reportedly made £120mln in its opening weekend, while Oppenheimer brought in over £70mln.
Sophie Lund Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Cinema companies are grappling with enormous competition from streamers and in many cases, are also lugging huge debt piles, making it even more important to have customers filing through their doors.”
“The success of these films will have been made easier by the start of the summer holidays, but the scope of the money spent on tickets shows it is possible for cinemas to have a renaissance, despite the cost-of-living crisis.
“The main focus now will be on the pipeline of future hits, with big hitters becoming fewer and further between.”
Cinema operators have struggled since the pandemic; Cineworld has entered administration in both the UK and the US, lenders have been in control of Vue since July last year and several Odeon branches have been forced to shut.
Cineworld is more than 88% down year-to-date and is struggling to find a buyer, having been forced to terminate plans to sell to a UK company earlier this year.
In the cinema company’s restructuring plan, shareholders aren’t expected to get anything and instead, a newly formed business will become the sole owner.
Cineworld is currently trading at around 0.4p.