Barbie and Oppenheimer help Odeon Group revenues to rise by 15% to €29.65m
Murphy Box The Picture: From Oppenheimer Office Hit A Cillian Ap In Scene
Margot Robbie’s and Cillian Murphy’s were two of the box office hits that helped the Irish arm of the Odeon movie group to increase revenues by 15% to €29.65m last year.
New accounts filed by United Cinemas International (Ireland) Ltd show that despite the increase in revenues, pre-tax losses narrowed only marginally from €4.81m to €4.74m last year.
The group’s operating losses declined by 30% from €3.97m to €2.79m and interest payments of €1.96m resulted in the pre-tax loss of €4.74m.
The directors state that towards the end of 2023, the industry was impacted by the Writers Guild Strikes, leading to delays in several major film releases.
The firm operates 11 cinemas here containing 77 screens and the directors state that cinema attendances across the sector here last year totalled 11.5m compared to 10.7m in 2022.
The directors state that “cinema remains relatively inexpensive compared to other out-of-home leisure options”.
They said: “Indeed, in the post-pandemic period, audiences have returned to cinemas in large numbers when significant films have been released; and they continue to do so despite these cost of living pressures.”
In July, the 2023 annual report of the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) showed that the Margot Robbie co-produced Barbie was the biggest box office hit of 2023 here when it generated €9.9m at the Irish box office.
In a buoyant year for Irish cinemas, box office income increased by 10% to €101m.
was the comfortable winner with taking €6.4m at the box office — €3.5m less than Barbie.
The directors for United Cinemas record that the average ticket price at Odeon movie theatres last year was €8.90 compared to €9.00 in 2022 and the average food and beverage spend was €5.90 compared to €5.76 in 2022.
A breakdown of revenues shows that box office revenues increased by 10% to €16.43m while retail revenues increased by 12% to €10.67m.
Screen advertising revenues totalled €308,000 while other revenues doubled to €2.2m The company’s loss arose from cost of sales rising from €8.62m to €9.3m while distribution costs and administrative expenses increased from €22m to €23.14m.
Lease costs last year totalled €5.26m and the loss last year also takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.27m and a non-cash impairment of tangible assets of €618,000.
At the end of December last, the firm had a shareholders’ deficit of €28.96m that includes accumulated losses of €37.16m, offset by a share premium account of €9.49m.
The firm’s cash funds last year declined from €3.4m to €2.64m.