Leonardo DiCaprio talks to AP about Inception.The Associated Press
A strong slate of late summer blockbusters helped drive third-quarter profit and revenue at movie exhibitor Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund .
The operator of Canada's largest theatre chain says its net income rose to $25.2-million in the three months ended Sept. 30, an increase from $20.4-million a year ago.
The stronger results were helped by hits like Inception, Despicable Me and the latest instalment in the Twilight series.
On a per unit basis, earnings were 76.3 cents from 67 cents.
Overall ticket sales rose to 18.9 million, about 100,000 tickets more than were sold a year earlier when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was atop the box-office.
Revenues grew 4.5 per cent to $269-million from $257.5-million.
Sales at the concession stand were also stronger, with revenue per patron growing by 2.2 per cent.
"Cineplex's revenues this quarter represent the strongest quarterly revenues ever recorded by the Fund since its inception," said president and CEO Ellis Jacob in a release.
"We continued to install digital and 3-D equipment during the quarter enabling us to capitalize on the expanded number of 3-D movies available. Today, more than 25 per cent of our screens are equipped with digital projectors and 22 per cent are 3-D capable."
Cineplex is coming off a dismal start to the summer movie season which saw a string of Hollywood box-office flops like the Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy "Killers" and a reboot of the '80s TV series The A-Team affect its results during the second quarter.
The lower ticket sales in the early summer period also wound up affecting Cineplex's overall concession sales of popcorn, candy and drinks.
Cineplex Entertainment operates 129 theatres located from British Columbia to Quebec with about 1,342 screens that include digital projects, Imax screens and its UltraAVX screen and sound systems.
The company has about 10,000 employees under its numerous brands which include Cineplex Odeon, Galaxy, Famous Players, Colossus, SilverCity and Scotiabank theatres.
Cineplex also announced plans to further roll out its higher end UltraAVX experience which incorporates a wall-to-wall theatre screens, a better sound system and larger seats that recline for a premium ticket price.