Premier Exhibs Looks for Life in "Bodies"

Premier Exhibitions, a NASDAQ-listed developer of popular touring museum-quality exhibits like Bodies and Titanic, today reported a Q2 drop of 11% in revenue with a 4% decrease in attendance to 1,324,495 compared with 1,374,472 in the second quarter of fiscal 2009.

What peaked our interest though was the turnaround plan offered up by the company who is currently on the verge of being delisted by the NASDAQ.

Chris Davino, Premier Exhibition's Chief Executive Officer stated, "While it's still early in the turnaround, the Company is now financially stable, leaner, and is working on a number of initiatives that should bear fruit in coming quarters. These new initiatives include sponsorship opportunities, the redesign and rebranding of certain exhibits, and new partnerships with key third parties. We expect to make several announcements about these new initiatives in the coming weeks and months."

Premiere's new exhibits include Dialog in the Dark and Star Trek. With attendance of ~1.5MM across the country, Premiere has a sizable reach that could be appealing to healthcare and history companies. Criticism, however, has plagued the popular Bodies exhibit since its release. In early 2008, Premiere's former CEO retired after an investigation by the New York Attorney General, which led to a settlement whereby Premier Exhibitions agreed to post disclaimers stating that they could not independently rule out the possibility that remains of Chinese prisoners were used in the production of the displays. Just this week, a left lung was apparently stolen from the exhibit in Peru prompting an embarrassing admission and $2,000 reward.

If we get more info on the new sponsorship strategy, opportunities or categories under consideration we'll pass it along to you here. If you have the scoop on Premiere, drop it in comments!