Equity in earnings of non-consolidated entities. Equity in earnings of non-consolidated entities were $16.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to $3.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018. Equity in earnings for the six months ended June 30, 2018 includes a $2.3 million gain on the sale of NCM, Inc. common shares, partially offset by a $16.0 million lower of carrying value or fair value impairment loss on 9,492,820 NCM units and 1,000,000 NCM, Inc. common shares held-for-sale and a $1.1 million loss on the return of 915,150 NCM units as a part of the annual common unit adjustment under the NCM ESA.
Investment income. Investment income was $5.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to $6.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018. Investment income includes payments received related to the NCM tax receivable agreement of $4.0 million and $5.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018, respectively. Investment income for the six months ended June 30, 2018 includes a $1.5 million gain on the sale of a joint venture managed theatre.
Income tax provision. The income tax provision was $9.3 million and $2.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018, respectively. See Note 8—Income Taxes of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 1 of Part I of this Form 10-Q for further information.
Net earnings (loss). Net loss was $84.6 million and net earnings were $48.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018, respectively. Net loss during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018 was impacted by lower attendance which negatively impacted admissions revenue, higher rent expense, increased other expense related to repayment of indebtedness, increased income tax provision, offset by decreases in depreciation and amortization expense and increased equity in earnings from non-consolidated entities.
Theatrical Exhibition - International Markets
Revenues. Total revenues decreased 5.1%, or $36.6 million, during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018. Admissions revenues decreased 8.8%, or $41.5 million, during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, primarily due to an overall decrease in attendance of 1.3% and decline in average ticket price of 7.5%. The decrease in average ticket price was primarily due to decreases in foreign currency translation rates. The decrease in attendance was primarily due to the popularity of films released in the period as compared to the same period a year ago as well as temporary screen closures for theatre refurbishments.
Food and beverage revenues increased 1.1%, or $1.8 million, during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, primarily due to the overall increase of food and beverage per patron of 2.4%, partially offset by the decrease in attendance and decline in foreign currency translation rates.
Total other theatre revenues increased $3.1 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, primarily due to increased ticket fees, partially offset by a decline in foreign currency translation rates.
Operating costs and expenses. Operating costs and expenses decreased 3.8%, or $27.1 million, during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018. Film exhibition costs decreased $10.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, primarily due to the decrease in admissions revenues. As a percentage of admissions revenues, film exhibition costs were 41.8% for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 40.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2018.
Food and beverage costs decreased $0.9 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018. The decrease in food and beverage costs was primarily due to the decrease in foreign currency translation rates. As a percentage of food and beverage revenues, food and beverage costs were 22.5% for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 23.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2018.
As a percentage of revenues, operating expense was 34.5% for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 35.5% during the six months ended June 30, 2018. Rent expense increased $21.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018 primarily due to the adoption of ASC 842 for lease accounting where approximately $19.8 million of prior year principal and interest payments were reclassified as rent expense during