Betting on cinemas in troubled times

The economic outlook continues to be filled with dark clouds, but more evidence surfaced in recent weeks that movie exhibition is weathering the storm better than most businesses.
The blockbuster numbers for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which crossed the $300 million mark in a brisk 13 days, boosted the stocks of the three biggest publicly traded theatre circuits, Carmike, Regal and Cinemark, while shares in Imax rose 19% in the days following the action spectacle’s premiere.