Eric Handler: Great. Thanks, Sean.
Sean Gamble: Thanks. I appreciate the questions, Eric.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is coming from Eric Wold of B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.
Eric Wold: Thank you. Good morning. So a quick numbers question. What was the impact in the quarter on ticket price per cap and maybe just per cap from National Cinema Day?
Melissa Thomas: From a year-over-year standpoint on both per cap and average ticket prices, National Cinema Day was actually a bit of an uptick, because the offerings changed a bit. So on the average ticket price last year, National Cinema Day ticket price was $3. This year, it was $4. So we had about a $0.04 benefit year-over-year related to that on the average ticket price side. Excluding National Cinema Day, our average ticket prices would have been $9.50 in the U.S. As you look at per cap, again slight benefit, about one point benefit year-over-year attributed to National Cinema Day. And then excluding National Cinema Day, our per cap would have been $7.19.
Eric Wold: Thank you. And then just to follow up on concessions. If you drill down into concessions a bit during the quarter maybe even so far into Q4, maybe excluding National Cinema Day, just kind of normal times, I guess are you seeing any indications at all that would give you an indication that the consumers are pulling back either during normal show times or during kind of discount show times to give you some impact there or you’re just not seeing that at all?
Melissa Thomas: As you look more broadly, despite the current economic environment, we continue to see consumers trade up to premium amenities. We also see them spend more on food and beverage, so they are electing into that full theatrical experience when they are coming to the theaters. Now something we’re certainly monitoring closely, but we have many initiatives in place to drive premium amenities, drive our F&B incidents forward. The dynamic that you saw play out in the third quarter was really a function of the mix of films that resulted in a sequential dip in our per caps, particularly that July, August kind of slates. But then as you’ve seen more recently, September, October, we’ve seen that kick up again. And we do believe despite having a tough comparison in Q4 of last year in our per caps, that we have the opportunity to continue to grow per caps in the fourth quarter, particularly as we lean into our proactive category management initiatives, as well as merchandize opportunities associated with the slate, namely on the Taylor Swift side of things.
Sean Gamble: Yes. I would just add that it’s an interesting — it’s a dynamic we’ve seen across our global company for years. Even in Latin America, which has more ups and downs of economic cycles, even in tougher times, we find that consumers may cut back on other types of activities. But when they come to our theaters, I’ve always found this fascinating, like, you don’t even see it tick down generally in the premium amenity consumption. They continue to upgrade to the premium formats. They continue to purchase food and beverage at heightened levels. So we continue to see that today, both in LatAm and here in the U.S. with regard to merchandize purchases, food purchases, upgrading, it’s just the dynamic in our industry that people will trade off on other things. But when they come to the cinema, that’s like their moment to splurge.
Eric Wold: Got it. If I can squeeze one in, maybe just a broader question, how do you think about kind of the health of the circuit [indiscernible] domestically health of the circuit versus kind of where you were pre-pandemic? I don’t want to make a big deal out of one quarter. It’s the first quarter domestically in two years, you didn’t have any kind of closure impact or screen closures had a net impact there. So it’s — are we passed [ph] most of the rebalancing the circuit kind of post pandemic, and then how would you kind of think about the health of the circuit now versus where it was maybe in ’19? So should we get back to — continue this upswing and box office upswing in attendance? How your positioned to kind of outperform benefit and over index versus the industry versus maybe where you would have been a few years ago?
Sean Gamble: I think the high level is we feel very good about the health and strength of the business. Just to kind of pick that off in chunks, obviously, we’re still working on re-strengthening our balance sheet, so that’s one piece that we’re still working on, and reducing the COVID-related debt that we took on. So there’s that piece. But operationally, I’d say we’ve made great strides in further efficiencies, in incremental revenue growth, so capturing more value with the attendance that we have. I think the comment that we made in prepared remarks, the fact that on 6% less — excuse me, on 16% less attendance versus the third quarter of ’19, we generated 6% more revenue and 16% higher adjusted EBITDA, I think that speaks to all the great work the team has been doing to strengthen the business.
And as we just look out, we continue to see many, many opportunities for future growth, future efficiency to further strengthen the circuit even more. Particular to some of the footprint and evolution there, I would say that there could continue to be some movement there. That’s just to a certain degree, part of that’s just our normal process. We maybe had a little bit more closure activity coming out of the pandemic simply because some of the theaters that had been on the cusp that were struggling a bit more, older theaters struggling a bit more coming out of the pandemic, it just made sense to move on. Whereas at the same time, we’ve actually opened 16 theaters since 2020 and those theaters have been performing exceptionally well on the whole.
So there could continue to be a little bit more of that calibration. But I feel really good overall with where we are at this point with our ability to kind of handle some of the ongoing near-term recovery and where we’re going to be coming out on the other side of that.
Eric Wold: Perfect. Thank you, both.
Sean Gamble: Thanks.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is coming from Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson. Please go ahead.
Michael Nathanson: Thanks. Hi, Sean. This is Michael for Robert. Thanks for taking the question. I have a couple of for you. One is you mentioned the word diverse a few times in describing the box office success. I wonder, do you think your biggest studio partners understand this and maybe will pivot away from their playbook of franchises? And then with that said, do you see any genres that have not returned post pandemic and maybe more structurally challenged and how people are dealing with that? And then another one is just quickly on day and date. You mentioned Five Nights at Freddy’s. You did very, very well for you and for Peacock. Is this the beginning of maybe a change in your rethinking perhaps can we coexist with day and date releases in certain genres? Thanks.
Sean Gamble: Sure. Well, thanks for the questions, Michael, and welcome. It’s a pleasure to have you on the call.
Michael Nathanson: Thanks, Sean.
