IMAX Shares Fall More Than 5% Leading Film Exhibitors Down In Disappointing Summer Movie Season

Film exhibitors continue to experience stock declines as the summer movie season has gotten off to a rough start. Shares of Imax Corp. were down more than 5%, leading the exhibitor space downward, with AMC Entertainment Holding Inc. shares falling nearly 4% and shares of Cinemark Holdings Inc. and Marcus Corp. falling slightly. Regal Entertainment Group shares were up less than 1%. The declines follow a Tuesday selloff that came after the 4-day Memorial Day holiday weekend had the lowest gross in 18 years. "Although Imax has the benefit of global exposure and more local content than the pure play exhibitors, their business is still focused on major blockbuster films and, with a number of those underperforming as of late, we would not be surprised if incremental concerns over near-term results and negative leverage on the model on weaker box office results is causing the selling pressure," B. Riley analyst Eric Wold said. The summer box office, so far through the season, is down 4.7% compared with last year's gross during the same time frame. Shares of the S&P 500 index were down slightly in intraday trade on Wednesday.