The marine theme park franchise SeaWorld reported lower than expected quarterly revenue ($405 million vs $445 million). The company, which went public in April 2013, believes its flat year-over-year attendance (6.6 million) is due to a proposed legislation in the state of California seeking to ban SeaWorld’s live orca shows. The ban would “eliminate performance-based entertainment and captive breeding of the whales with an ultimate goal of phasing out killer whale captivity in California.”
Just months after SeaWorld’s IPO and the proposed legislation, CNN aired the documentary film Blackfish. Blackfish exposes the ill-treatment of orcas at SeaWorld and examines the 2010 death of a veteran SeaWorld whale trainer. When asked about the effect of Blackfish on business, SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison said: “As much as we’re asked that, we can see no noticeable impact on our business.”
