By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Regal Entertainment Group , the No. 1 U.S. movie theater operator, posted lower-than-expected results on Thursday, saying lower attendance and a shift in its financial calendar had hurt its performance.
The company reported a net loss of $1.8 million or 1 cent per share, compared with a profit of $31.0 million or 20 cents per share a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, Regal posted earnings of 5 cents per share, compared with earnings of 25 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected Regal to report earnings of 7 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell to $673.5 million from $757.6 million a year earlier, lagging analysts' average estimate of $701.8 million.
Regal's third quarter this year began July 3 and ended Oct. 1, compared with last year's June 27 to Sept. 25. Analysts said Regal's new third quarter would suffer in comparison because it omitted the first part of a traditionally busy July 4th U.S. Independence Day holiday week.
Looking ahead, Regal Chief Executive Amy Miles said industry box office results for the first 3-1/2 weeks of the fourth quarter have risen about 12 percent to 14 percent and said she was optimistic about the potential of big upcoming releases such as "Avatar" and "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
Shares of Regal rose 4 cents to $12 after hours, having closed the regular session up 5 percent at $11.96.
Regal told a conference call that industrywide box office admission revenue fell about 8.3 percent in the weeks that corresponded with Regal's third quarter due largely to a tough comparison to last year which was boosted by blockbuster "Dark Knight."
By comparison, Regal's admissions revenue in the quarter fell about 10.3 percent per average screen and said its performance was also hurt by regional variations like sharp declines in California, which represented over 21 percent of Regal's admissions revenue.
Lazard Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett said investors were disappointed that Regal lagged the industry.
"Their box office was less than the industry, which makes investors uncomfortable, but they did better than expected with expenses. Overall, people will be more interested in what's coming," Crockett said.
Miles said Regal was proceeding with its planned digital upgrade to accommodate a heavy Hollywood slate of 3-D films in coming years.
Exhibitors and studios are all investing heavily in 3-D, hoping it will boost attendance at premium prices.
"We would hope as we get closer to the end of 2010 we will be a long way towards our 3-D goal. The good news is ultimately we would like to get to the 1,500 screen count, but you can make a significant difference from a circuit perspective well before you get to that 1,500 number," Miles said.

(Reporting by Susan Zeidler; Editing by Tim Dobbyn) Keywords: REGAL (susan.zeidler@thomsonreuters.com; +1 213 955 6748; Reuters Messaging: susan.zeidler.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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