A Brief Nod to Cinemark's Under-the-Radar Theatrical Success

The third-largest multiplex chain weathered the COVID-era recovery with a minimum of melodrama while providing a consistently good-enough theatrical experience.

It’s not exactly a surprise that the Nation Association of Theater Owners (otherwise known as “the other NATO”) would choose to honor the president and CEO of one of the three biggest theater chains at the next CinemaCon. But yes, Sean Gamble, head of Cinemmark, will receive the 2025 NATO Marquee Award amid that week’s “State of the Industry” program on April 1. I’m sure Ted Sarandos was a close second. The only reason it caught my attention is that I’d argue Cinemark almost qualifies as an “underrated” theater chain.

Simply put, they don’t have a somewhat melodramatic (but arguably effective) CEO like AMC’s Adam Aron. He, of course, keeps his company and the theatrical industry overall in the news amid comparatively colorful public sentiments and go-for-break gimmicks like meme stocks and specialized popcorn buckets that have become an inside joke industry unto itself. And unlike Cineworld (which runs Regal), they didn’t have to recently declare bankruptcy and conduct related restructuring amid the COVID-era downturn. Cinemark just, I would argue, kept its head down and kept the theaters as open and prosperous as the marketplace would allow.

Pardon the digression, but Cineworld just got a $1.9 billion loan alongside additional access to $350 million in revolving credit. This came on the heels of a record Thanksgiving weekend for the company and $1 billion in Q3 revenue, behind AMC’s $1.35 billion but ahead of Cinemark’s $922 million Q3 score. This seems to get them out of bankruptcy-related peril, at least presuming the theatrical marketplace remains relatively on point through 2031. They also procured a $250 million loan earlier this year for theatre upgrades. That and the promised $2.2 billion for the major chains to just go to town in that respect over the next few years.

Granted, I go to Cinemark theaters less frequently than AMC, Regal, Cinepolis and Studio Movie Grill because the closest one is just far enough (around 40 minutes away) to make it slightly inconvenient. But that frequency has been increasing as they tend to have earlier Friday showings than the closer multiplexes, which has been an issue amid a COVID-era decline in pre-noon showtimes to which I had previously been accustomed. Since my kids’ Friday school schedules are weird, I relish the opportunity to, for example, see Megaopolis the way it was meant to be seen… in a near-empty but huge auditorium on Friday at 9:30 am.

Their Movie Club plan is $11 monthly or $120 per year for one monthly 2-D ticket and 20% off concessions. However, those tickets roll over. Since I don’t frequent the theaters all that much, I have a slew of saved-up rollover “credit” that I can use for tickets and, at around $12 per “saved ticket,” concessions. That last bit was lovely when, for example, I took my middle son to an early Garfield showing and got both the tickets and the snacks “for free.” Ditto myself-and-two-kids post-July 4 catch-up showing of Despicable Me 4 during a mid-summer road trip.

While my local Cinemark is not the “best” in any specific capacity among theaters around me, it might be the best in my hometown of Akron, Ohio, amid decades of theatre closures. Regardless, it is among the most consistent every damn time. The screens are big, even the out-of-the-way auditorium where I watched Tim Burton’s Batman in a theater – for the first time in 35 years – on a lazy Sunday afternoon in September. The picture and sound are rock-solid, the seats are comfy and the refreshments, while mostly no frills (none of this dinner theater pizzazz like Alamo Drafthouse or Studio Movie Grill), are good enough.

The experience brings a certain level of quality. It’s akin to 1990s Law & Order. Dick Wolf’s first decade of investigation & prosecution rarely coveted the operatic heights of Homicide: Life on the Street yet rarely failed to deliver a 45-minute crime procedural on a level that, especially in retrospect, shouldn’t have been taken for granted. We can debate which theater chain is Homicide, NYPD Blue or New York Undercover. Make your own Alamo Drafthouse = a *successful* Cop Rock joke… here. But it’s worth a hat tip for how Cinemark has mostly just done the job without the headlines.