Thanks for joining the 2026 first quarter earnings call for Reading International Inc. My name is Gilbert Avanes. I'm the company's Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Joining me today is Ellen Cotter, our President and CEO. After I run through the normal caveats, I'll start first by presenting the results from our 2026 first quarter. I'll also talk about our balance sheet, liquidity, and provide a summary of our debt position. I'll turn the call over to Ellen, who will discuss our business strategy. After that, we'll address some specific questions that came in from our stockholders, understanding that we have tried to weave answers to many stockholder questions into our prepared remarks. Let me start with running through the usual caveats. Some of the statements that we make today regarding our business operations and financial performance may be considered forward-looking.
Such statements are based on the current expectation and assumptions that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our Forms 10-K and 10-Q, including the risk factors. During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures is included in our earnings release issued May 15, 2026, which is distributed and available to the public through the Investor Relations tab on our website at readingrdi.com. With that behind us, I'll go over the results from Q1 2026. Before I do that, I want to summarize a few notable events that occurred in the first quarter of 2026. In February 2026, we classified our Cinemas 1,2, and 3 property as held for sale.
This is following our December 2025 acquisition of the 25% interest in the property that we did not own, thus facilitating a sale of the entire property. On March 4th, 2026, we signed a purchase and sales agreement to monetize our Napier property. The transaction is current in the due diligence period. I'll turn to the first quarter results, which on a total revenue level were stronger than the prior-year period but were weaker than comparing net income to the prior period. We believe it to be significant that this quarter our cinema segment operating earnings calculated before depreciation and amortization was positive for the first time since 2019.
Our Q1 2026 consolidated revenue increased by $5 million- $45.1 million quarter-over-quarter. A few factors drove these improvements. The film slate for the quarter in the U.S. and Australia proved to be a stronger lineup compared to the Q1 2025, leading to an increase in attendance and food and beverage revenues despite a cinema closure in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2025.
Increased real estate revenues in the U.S. led by an increase in live theater revenues, primarily as a result of the strength of the live show performing at our Minetta Lane Theatre and the strengthening of our Australian/New Zealand foreign exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. Historically, around 50% of our revenues have been generated in Australia and New Zealand, and during the first quarter of 2026, that slightly rose, with 53% of our revenues being generated internationally. Due to the Australia and New Zealand dollar both strengthening against the U.S. dollar by 10.8% and 3.9% respectively in the first quarter of 2026, this positively impacted our results.
With respect to our net loss position, for the first quarter, a net loss attributable to Reading International Inc. increased by 71% from a loss of $4.8 million to a loss of $8.1 million when compared to the same period in the prior year. This was due to the first quarter of 2025 having a $6.6 million gain on the sale of our property assets in Wellington, New Zealand, including Courtenay Central. Excluding this prior period gain on sale, our improved performance is due to improved cinema segment results, decreased interest expense, and decreased G&A expense. Our basic loss per share for Q1 2026 increased by $0.15 to a basic loss per share of $0.36 compared to a basic loss per share of $0.21 for Q1 2025. This increased loss is attributable to the same factor as our decrease in our net loss.
Our total company depreciation, amortization, impairment, and general and administrative expense for the Q1 2026 decreased by $0.5 million to $8 million compared to $8.5 million for Q1 2025. Income tax benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2026 decreased by $0.3 million compared to the equivalent prior year period. The change between 2026 and 2025 is primarily related to the year-to-date consolidated losses and an increase in reserve for valuation allowance in 2026. Our Q1 2026 global operating loss of $3.6 million improved by $3.3 million compared to an operating loss of $6.9 million in Q1 2025. At the loss of $0.8 million, our Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA loss increased by $3.7 million compared to an EBITDA income of $2.9 million for the same time period last year.
Shifting to cash flow, for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, net cash used in operating activities decreased by $5.2 million to $2.5 million compared to the cash used in the same period in prior year of $7.7 million. This was primarily driven by a decrease in net operating loss of $2.8 million and an increase in net payables of $2.5 million. Cash used in investing activities during the quarter ended March 31, 2026 was $0.5 million compared to the cash provided in the same prior year period of $17.9 million. This was due to proceeds from the sale of our Wellington properties, New Zealand, in the first quarter of 2025. Cash used in financing activities for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 decreased by $14.6 million to $2.3 million compared to the cash used by financing activities of $16.9 million in the same prior year period.
This was primarily due to repaying our $10.5 million Westpac loan and $6.1 million of our Bank of America loan using a portion of the proceeds on the sale of our Wellington properties in Q1 2025. Turning now to our financial position as of March 31, 2026, our total assets were $431.5 million compared to $434.9 million on December 31, 2025. This decrease was primarily driven by a $5 million decrease in cash and cash equivalents from which we found our ongoing business operations. As of March 31, 2026, our total outstanding borrowings from gross deferred financing costs were $184.6 million compared to $185.1 million on December 31, 2025. Our debt position is substantially similar as while we have paid down certain loans, the strengthening Australian dollar has the effect of increasing the value of our NAB facility.
It is to be noted that this debt has historically been serviced out of our Australian operation, and while no assurance can be given, we do not anticipate servicing this debt in U.S. dollar. Our cash and cash equivalent as of March 31, 2026 were $5.5 million. To address ongoing liquidity pressure on our businesses, we continue to work with our lenders to amend certain debt facilities. In the first quarter of 2026 and in the past year, we have worked with our key lenders to extend maturity date, modify principal repayment dates, and adjust existing covenants. With respect to our 44 Union Square loan, on February 6, 2026, we deferred a principal payment which we have since paid in March 2026. With respect to our Bank of America/Bank of Hawaii loan, on February 27, 2026, we further modified the loan payment schedule.
On March 31, 2026, we executed an amendment to reduce our NAB loan minimum liquidity requirement for a limited defined period in 2026. Our interest expense for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 has been reduced by $0.5 million or 11% since the same period last year. We have reduced our overall gross debt by $100.4 million since December 31, 2020. Let me turn it over to Ellen, who will give us an overview of the business in the first quarter of 2026.
Thanks, Gilbert. Welcome everyone to the call today. We were pleased with the start of 2026 and our improving operational results, which together with our efforts to reduce our overall debt and G&A should improve our balance sheet going forward.
The Q1 global movie slate in 2026 drove a market improvement in our operations thanks to movies like Project Hail Mary, Hoppers, and Wuthering Heights, along with strong holdovers from the 2025 holiday season with movies like Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash. At $45.12 million, Reading's Q1 2026 total revenue was the second highest first quarter reported since the first quarter of 2020. This result was supported by our global cinema division delivering a 14% increase over the first quarter of 2025 and the second highest first quarter global cinema revenue since the first quarter of 2020. With our U.S. cinemas delivering a 6% increase over the prior quarter and our Australian cinemas delivering the highest first quarter cinema revenues on a constant currency basis since the first quarter of 2020.
At $4.6 million, our first quarter 2026 global real estate revenues decreased by 5% compared to last year's quarter, primarily due to a reduction in our revenue as a result of the 2025 sales of Cannon Park in Townsville, Australia, and our Wellington property assets in New Zealand. Despite this reduction in our international real estate revenue, our U.S. real estate division delivered the highest first- quarter revenues ever due to our improving rental stream at 44 Union Square and a strong first quarter from our live theatre division, and our remaining international real estate portfolio continuing to maintain a 98% occupancy rate for its diverse mix of 58 third-party tenants. While Reading reported an operating loss of $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, it was a 47% improvement over the same quarter last year and the best result for this metric since the first quarter of 2019.
On a total segment operating income basis, we reported $480,000, which was an improvement of over 100% on the reported first quarter 2025 total segment operating loss of $2.9 million. The best first quarter result since the first quarter of 2019 and the first positive total segment operating income since the first quarter of 2019. These improved operational results were driven mostly by a much stronger movie lineup but also by our execution of key strategic initiatives across the company's cinema divisions. Continued focus with more creative strategies on our global loyalty programs, which I'll touch on shortly. Continued focus on the F&B programs across our cinema division.
Across our global cinema circuit, we're continuing to work with our landlords to endeavor to reduce our overall occupancy costs to reflect the fact that attendance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels and our operating expenses, for the most part, have increased across the board. With respect to our property divisions, our results reflect the impact of selling our Townsville and Wellington assets in 2025. While the sale of Cannon Park eliminated future revenues and costs, the sale of Wellington, primarily for this period, removed holding costs. Despite our overall real estate division experiencing an operating income decline quarter-over-quarter, this was still our 14th straight quarter of having positive real estate operating income. Also, our first quarter 2026 U.S. real estate division performed better quarter-over-quarter, mainly due to the strong productions mounted at the Minetta Lane Theatre, which is part of our live theater division.
We recognize that we're not quite out of the woods just yet, but we were all encouraged by the demonstrable improvements in the first quarter as it relates to our key cinema businesses, which momentum we fully expect to continue through 2026. With respect to our balance sheet, our board has directed management to reduce its overall debt. During the fourth quarter of this year, as Gilbert mentioned earlier, we reduced our overall interest expense by 11% quarter-over-quarter, which reflects paydowns in 2025. We reported that our Cinema 1, 2, and 3 property in New York City across the street from Bloomingdale's has been classified as held for sale. We anticipate using a portion of the sales proceeds to retire outstanding debt.
In New Zealand, we signed a purchase and sale agreement in March of 2026 to sell our property in Napier, coupled with an intended leaseback of the cinema. Again, it's likely a portion of those proceeds will be used in the short term to reduce our outstanding liabilities. We're still absolutely committed to our two-business, three-country strategy. While we've monetized a number of our real estate assets, this has been done to strategically meet our liquidity needs in the face of the pandemic, the unprecedented 2023 Hollywood strikes, historic increases in interest rates, and inflation. We chose those particular assets, which typically were either negative cash flow or which, after debt service, did not materially contribute to our cash flow, and which, in our view, had reached the best value reasonably achievable without significant capital investment.
Looking ahead to the second quarter 2026, we continue to be impressed with The Box office and the successful releases of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Michael, and The Devil Wears Prada 2. The rest of 2026 looks equally as impressive with highly anticipated major releases like Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu in May, Toy Story 5 and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in June, Minions & Monsters: Moana, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey in July, The Cat in the Hat and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping in November, and Avengers: Doomsday: Doom Part 3 and Jumanji 3, all in December. Along with industry analysts and press, we continue to believe that due to the robust film slate in 2026, this year is poised to be the best post-pandemic Boxo ffice year to date.
As of today, we believe we continue to have a strong portfolio of cinema and real estate assets, most of which produce positive cash flow now or are expected to in the future. We've navigated these treacherous waters over the last six years without one penny of U.S. government assistance, without resorting to debtor rights legal remedies, and without diluting our stockholders. With that, let's take a closer look at our first quarter 2026 global cinema business compared to the same period in 2025. At $41.5 million, our global cinema revenue increased 14%. At $1.3 million, our global cinema operating loss improved by 70% and represented the best result for this metric since the first quarter of 2019. As we've said, the overall stronger first quarter performance was mostly attributed to a stronger film slate, execution of our key strategic initiatives, and favorable foreign exchange movements.
Let me highlight a few of those key strategic initiatives that we continue to be focused on in 2026 across our global cinema divisions. Our F&B program continues to be a key area of focus. When you include only periods when each of our circuits were fully operational, i.e., excluding pandemic closure periods, at $8.38 in the U.S. and at AUD 8.09 in Australian currency, our U.S. and Australian cinema divisions again established F&B spend per person records, achieving their highest first quarter levels ever. These strong F&B results were supported by the continued sale of movie merchandise and the development of movie-themed menus. In the U.S., we executed strategic price increases across our F&B menus. Loyalty experiences. We're also driving guests to our theaters through our new and improved loyalty programs, both free-to-join rewards and paid membership programs.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, we revamped and relaunched our free-to-join Reading Rewards program in Australia and New Zealand to allow for better perks and savings. Today, we have over 510,000 members, a 19% increase over the last quarter. With respect to our paid memberships in Australia and New Zealand for both of our Reading and Angelika brands, since our late Q4 2024 launch, we've signed up over 31,800 paid memberships, which is a 44% increase over the last quarter. In the U.S., through December 2025 and January 2026, we launched a new free-to-join rewards program and premium membership program in six of our consolidated theaters in Hawaii and three Reading Cinemas. Since that launch, we've signed up 24,000 rewards members and 1,500 paid members. In the U.S., our free-to-join Angelika membership program has approximately 185,000 members for our eight Angelika-branded theaters.
We expect to launch our paid premium Angelika monthly membership later in the second quarter. Another key initiative for our global executive teams has been working with our cinema landlords to realign occupancy costs with the economic realities of the recent years. Operating costs in almost every category have increased while attendance continues to remain below pre-pandemic levels. We have limited headroom to raise ticket and food and beverage prices. Along these same lines, since the pandemic started in early 2020, where possible due to term expirations or agreements with landlords to take back properties without the payment of any fees or penalties on our part, we've reduced our global cinema count by eight theaters to eliminate loss-making locations. None of these cinemas were profit-making, and upon review, we concluded it was unlikely that they could return to profitability without material capital expenditures, if at all.
In all but one case, these locations have either been converted to other uses or remained dark. While closing these loss-making cinemas reduces our gross revenue in the short term, it improves net income by eliminating locations that were reducing our profitability, which benefits our bottom line both now and over time. Let's take a closer look at the 2026 first quarter results for our U.S. cinemas. Despite electing to close 7.5% of our U.S. screens in 2025 to enhance profitability, our first quarter 2026 revenue increased by 6% to $19.5 million, and our first quarter 2026 operating loss of $1.6 million improved by 51% compared to the same period last year. Regarding the U.S. cinema capex spend in 2026, we're in the process of renovating our Reading Cinemas in Bakersfield, California.
As of the end of January 2026, we converted the seats in our IMAX screen to heated recliners, which makes that auditorium the only IMAX with recliners within a 100-mile radius. We created a premium screen, Titan Luxe, with a Dolby Atmos sound system and heated recliners. Now we've converted the seats in another eight auditoriums to luxury recliners. Since we fully completed the PLF and recliner upgrade in February, our Bakersfield cinema has reported increases each month since. For the months of March and April, our total revenue at this cinema has increased by 83% and 7% respectively, which is well in excess of our total U.S. cinema average for each of those two months. In the U.S., in 2026, we are working through renovation plans whereby we'll add luxury recliners, PLF screens, and F&B upgrades to two additional U.S. cinemas.
In addition, through 2026, we're continuing to refurbish many of our existing recliner seats that were damaged during the pandemic by mandated disinfectants. Turning to our cinemas in Australia and New Zealand. Following the first quarter 2026 box office industry trends and compared to the first quarter in 2025, our first quarter 2026 Australian cinema revenue increased 26% to $19.7 million, and operating income increased 144% to $426,000 from an operating loss of $974,000. Our first quarter 2026 New Zealand cinema revenues decreased 6% to $2.3 million, while our operating loss improved by 40%. During the first quarter of 2026, our international cinemas delivered average ticket prices that established record highs. Our Australian cinema circuit's first quarter ATP of $16.19 was the highest first quarter ever and the second highest quarter ever. Our New Zealand cinema circuit's first quarter ATP of NZD 14.87 set a record for its highest quarter ever.
These results are particularly impressive given the fact that in February of 2026, our international team implemented a circuit-wide February flash sale, which gave those who signed up for our Reading Rewards programs a heavily discounted February ticket price. The program was very successful, leading to increases in Australia and New Zealand as it relates to our market share and loyalty subscriber numbers. With respect to our 2026 international capex spend, our most important investment over the next few years will be the complete renovation of our Reading Cinemas in Wellington, New Zealand. We believe in the Wellington market as a strong movie-going town, which is also now home to some of the most creative visual effects communities in the world, along with being the home of best-in-class filmmakers James Cameron and Peter Jackson.
Our renovation plans include conversion to luxury recliners in all auditoriums, creation of at least two premium large screen concepts such as Titan Luxe, the creation of at least three elegant Gold Lounge auditoriums to feature waiter service, an overall upgraded F&B offer, and the creation of elevated hotel-like lobby lounge. We anticipate that our landlord will be completing their seismic upgrade of the building in the next 9- 10 months, which would then allow us to complete our fit-out, leading to a possible relaunch in late 2027. Our optimism for the cinema is supported by the fact that prior to its closure, for seismic issues, this theater was historically one of our top five global cinemas, as well as being among the top-grossing cinemas in the country of New Zealand.
Let's turn to our global real estate business, which on a segment reporting basis includes not only our third-party rental income, but also our live theater business in New York City and our intercompany cinema rents. Starting with the first quarter of 2026, global real estate results and compared to the same period in 2025. At $4.6 million, our Q1 2026 global real estate total revenue decreased 5%. At $1.4 million, our Q1 2026 total operating income decreased by 13%. As we've said earlier, the reason for these decreases was primarily driven by the elimination of revenue and property-level cash flow from third-party rents because of the monetization of two assets in the prior year.
Breaking it down by division for the first quarter 2026 and compared to the first quarter of 2025, with respect to Australia, our real estate revenue decreased by 14% to $2.6 million, and our operating income of $1.2 million decreased by 25%. At $214,000, our New Zealand real estate revenue decreased by 12% from $243,000. However, our first quarter 2026 New Zealand real estate operating income of $69,000 increased by 173% from an operating loss of $94,000 in the same period in 2025, due primarily to the elimination of holding costs associated with our Wellington properties. Our first quarter 2026 U.S. real estate revenue of $1.8 million increased by 13%, and our operating income of $155,000 increased by 8%.
With respect to our Australia and New Zealand portfolio as of March 31st, 2026, due primarily to our asset monetizations in Wellington and Townsville, the number of third-party tenants in our combined Australian and New Zealand real estate portfolio reduced to 58 and is now primarily made up of tenants at Newmarket Village in Brisbane and the Belmont Common in Perth. The quality of those remaining tenants is strong, with a portfolio occupancy rate of 98%. For the first quarter, our combined third-party tenant sales from our Australian real estate was $23.7 million. To assist with liquidity needs and contribute to the potential capex requirements of our redeveloped Reading Cinemas in Courtney Central, we reported that we signed an agreement to sell our property in Napier, New Zealand, for NZD 2.5 million.
Like our cinemas in Wellington and Townsville, we expect to lease the cinema back after the sale. Though no assurances can be given, we would expect the sale to close this quarter. Turning to our U.S. real estate business. Regarding our live theater segment, our Q1 2026 was stronger than last year thanks to the Minetta Lane, where we have licensed the space to Audible, an Amazon company. During the first quarter, Hugh Jackman returned to the Minetta Lane for an encore of the critically acclaimed play Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes. Audible also premiered the show The Disappear. We anticipate a strong second quarter with new productions What Happened Was by Tom Noonan and New Born by Ella Hickson, both from Hugh Jackman's production company. Since the departure of Stomp, the Orpheum Theatre continues to be in high demand with theater producers.
Today, the Orpheum continues to host performances of 11:00 to midnight, a theatrical dance experience during TikTok viral sensations Costumere, which has now been extended into the second quarter of 2026. Turning to 44 Union Square in New York City. While Petco continues to light pet parents across New York City with its award-winning retail store, we still have four floors to lease at 44 Union Square. As previously reported, we reengaged Newmark, the same leasing team that successfully completed the Petco deal for us. Over the last few months, Newmark has toured potential office and coworking users, also potential tenants whose focus is on wellness, education, and entertainment. Newmark's renewed energy and focus on the space comes at a time when the industry data demonstrates meaningful improvement in the leasing environment in the Midtown South submarket in Manhattan.
Confirming, we did end discussions with the one potential tenant we've been working with for several months. However, we believe that Newmark's enthusiasm for this space and their experience and reputation and improved market conditions will ultimately result in a stronger credit tenant for the property. We received a number of stockholder questions about the sales process for the Cinema 1, 2, and 3 building in New York City. To date, over 60 parties ended up signing NDAs for the property. There's strong interest for the Cinema 1, 2, and 3, which is a key development site on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Well-capitalized, well-regarded New York area developers of condo and rental properties represent most of the potential purchasers. Newmark is accepting first-round bids this week. We expect that this will lead to one and perhaps two more rounds of bidding, and we're expecting multiple bids.
At the end of this week, we're going to be much more educated about the potential outcome of our sale process. Turning to the Reading Viaduct. Similar to last quarter, we received detailed questions from our stockholders about the Reading Viaduct, who again raised issues about the range of values and the discussions with the city and how the outstanding legal matters may impact those values. On the STB case, as you know, the matter is with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Additional legal briefs have been filed. Again, we believe we have strong legal positions. We'll also note that the remedy sought by the city is declaratory relief as to whether the viaduct is a railroad subject to the jurisdiction of the STB. No monetary damages or relief is being sought.
We don't expect a decision by this court until sometime during the fourth quarter of 2026 or even later. For further details about this asset, we ask you to review our more detailed responses in our recently filed 10-Q. We'll reiterate that the company believes that the Reading Viaduct is a valuable company asset, and any transaction in the future tied to the Reading Viaduct should represent a fair value for the stockholders of Reading. Turning to our Newberry Yard property in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It continues to be classified as held for sale. We don't have any potential deal to announce. Our representatives are currently in discussions with potential purchasers for the yard. Over the last few years, we've received offers from several potential buyers.
In management's view and the view of our advisors, those offers did not adequately reflect the value of this 23-acre parcel as a rail yard or logistic center. In summary, our real estate segment is stable and has room for growth as we lease up the remaining space at 44 Union Square. We're bullish on our cinema segment for a variety of reasons, including the quality of the remaining movie slate in 2026, which looks stronger than it's been in years. People, including the major studios, are rediscovering the joy and benefits of a cinema release. Studios, including Universal and Paramount, have recently publicly confirmed their commitments to a 45-day theatrical window. We've been successful in calling our cinema portfolio to remove unprofitable cinemas without the payment of any fees or penalties. As our liquidity improves, we're dedicated to the upgrading of our key cinemas in our portfolio.
We've been successful in the execution of strategic priorities like F&B and loyalty expansion to drive higher cinema attendance. With that, I'll wrap up my business update. We thank you again for listening, and thank you to our stockholders for sending in questions over our investor relations email. As usual, in addition to addressing many of your questions today in the prepared remarks, we've selected a few additional questions to offer further insights. I'll start the Q&A and direct the first question to Gilbert. The first question is, the Santander loan secured by Minetta Lane and Orpheum matures June 1, 2026. On the Q4 audiocast, you said Reading was working on a refinancing option. What is the current status of that refinancing and the probability this closes before June 1? What is the contingency if it doesn't?
What terms are being discussed, and what's the expected maturity rate and amortization profile? Gilbert?
We're working on a few refinance options now and trying to create an acceptable set of terms and conditions. We will not disclose the set of terms yet. We expect that we'll close our refinance within the next few months.
Thanks, Gilbert. Why don't you take the second question, which is, are there any covenants, mandatory prepayment provisions, change of control provisions, or asset sale proceed requirements under the Nationwide Notes, including any provisions that could be triggered by the sale of Cinema 1, 2, and 3 or future Villages transactions? Gilbert?
No. With that short and simple answer, let me pose the next question to Ellen. Australia swung from a $974,000 operating loss in Q1 2025 to $426,000 of operating income in Q1 2026.
While New Zealand remained negative, what explains the difference in trajectory between Australia and New Zealand, and what is the plan to restore New Zealand cinema profitability? Ellen?
Yeah. While both countries are grappling with inflation and rising living costs, Australia's economy appears to be more resilient, with Australia having a stronger labor market. New Zealand has faced a difficult year with comparatively weaker growth, rising unemployment, and now increasing energy costs due to the crisis in the Middle East. I'll also note that the New Zealand dollar hasn't kept pace with the increases in the Australian dollar. Also, our cinema in Christchurch, historically one of our top grossers, has encountered new state-of-the-art competition materially impacting our market share.
The other factor at play with respect to our New Zealand cinemas was that the first quarter of 2025, The Box office reflected record-breaking grosses for a movie called Tinā, which was a local New Zealand film about a teacher who lost her child in the Christchurch earthquakes. With respect to going forward for this division, many of the strategic initiatives that we've outlined in our remarks are being worked on in New Zealand.
The U.S. cinema segment materially improved year-over-year, but still generated a $1.6 million operating loss. What are the primary remaining drivers of the U.S. loss after the closure of the underperforming theaters, and what are the operating changes, landlords' concession, or revenue improvements that are needed to move the U.S. cinema business to sustainable profitability? Ellen?
First, I'm going to point out that when you back out depreciation, our U.S. cinemas showed positive earnings for the quarter. Our U.S. cinema segment has improved steadily since COVID and was easily the hardest-hit division we have since early 2020. Not receiving one penny of U.S. federal assistance through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant or Paycheck Protection Program because of our microcap public company status hurt us significantly. Competitive private companies of our size received tens of millions of interest-free dollars. It should be remembered that since COVID, a number of our competitors have either gone bankrupt or issued equity substantially diluting their stockholders. We'll also note we're thankful we have a strong real estate portfolio to fall back on. When we really needed them, we're even more thankful we didn't sell those assets earlier.
Over the last few years, our strategic priorities in the U.S. cinema group have been to negotiate occupancy cost reductions with our landlords in light of lower attendance and rising operating costs across every line, almost.
Two, closing underperforming theaters where we've been able to do so without paying fees or penalties. Since COVID, we've closed six U.S. theaters. Thirdly, we've been working to reduce our operating expenses, especially in Hawaii, where depending on the poll you look at, Hawaii is typically ranked the highest on the cost of living index. We've created ways to upgrade our theaters that have been impacted by competition taking into account our liquidity challenges. We've focused on our marketing and operational efforts on areas where we've got greater control over our outcomes compared to The Box office, where for the most part, we don't really control the quality of the film. For instance, we've leaned heavily into expanding our F&B programs.
We've increased our attendance through the implementation of a new free and paid loyalty program. We've expanded and improved our theater rental program, and we've expanded our curated programming. Ultimately, an improved slate of movies from the major studios and distributors will have the greatest impact on our profitability. Thankfully, we see that happening for the remainder of 2026 and beyond. In addition, as a circuit, we're exploring new opportunities in the U.S. by looking at taking over existing theaters that might be available on current market terms, which are typically better than those applicable to our legacy cinemas. With that, I will say thank you to everybody for listening into the remarks and our Q&A. That marks the end of our first quarter 2026 conference call. Thank you for your support and attention.