The third quarter didn't end the way it started for multiplex operators. AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) and its wobbly peers need a strong Q4 to turn things around. It won't be easy, but the fourth quarter could flip the script here.

It seems like it was a lifetime ago when July got off to a blazing start. Two weeks into Q3, U.S. box office receipts were at their highest level since 2016. By the end of September, domestic ticket sales for the third quarter were 32% below where they were in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019. You now have to go back 24 years to find the last pre-pandemic year that had a Q3 as soft as the one we just mercifully ended over the weekend. Oh, and we're not even baking inflation into that math.

It's not just the third quarter. Box office tallies are down 34% year to date when stacked against 2019. Multiplex operators are hoping for a strong finish to 2022, but the subplots and hardships keep mounting.

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Source Fool.com