Event Hospitality and Entertainment has blamed its falling profit on Rogue One's failure to match the box office success of The Force Awakens a year earlier.
The company, which owns Event Cinemas, Greater Union and Birch Carroll & Coyle, says Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's inability to reach the financial heights of its blockbuster predecessor had weighed on earnings.
Event's net profit fell 22.6 per cent to $59.38 million for the six months to December 31, compared to $76.75 million in the same period a year ago.
Managing director David Seargeant said the group's cinema earnings were dented by the "comparatively softer film slate and particularly by Rogue One, which was unable to match the incredible success of The Force Awakens" in the prior corresponding period.
The Force Awakens grossed $62.7 million at the Australian Box Office in its 15 days of release during December in 2015, while Rogue One grossed $36.4 million over 17 days during December 2016.
Other releases in the first half of the current financial year included the poorly reviewed Suicide Squad ($34.2 million), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($31.3 million), and The Secret Life of Pets ($29.5 million).
The top four titles for the half collectively grossed $131.4 million.
The top four grossing titles from the prior comparable half year - The Force Awakens, Spectre, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, and The Martian - raked in $153.5 million on a comparative basis.
Elsewhere in the business, Mr Seargeant said short-term refurbishment and redevelopment at hotels including Rydges at Canberra, Parramatta, Cronulla and Hobart was to blame for a 15.5 per cent decline in hotel profit before interest and income tax to $24.5 million.
He said strong overseas tourist numbers and burgeoning corporate and conference events underpinned demand for the group's hotels in Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Queenstown and Rotorua.
Shares in Event were down $1.87, or 13.41 per cent, to $12.08 at 1512 AEDT.
ROGUE ONE A NON-EVENT:
* Net profit down 22.6pct to $59.38m
* Total revenue down 0.8pct to $656m
* Interim dividend unchanged at 20 cents, fully franked.
