Topline
AMC Entertainment’s third quarter is “off to an explosive start” because of successful box-office hits like Barbie and Oppenheimer, with revenue in July setting a monthly record for the theater chain, CEO Adam Aron said Tuesday, as the company reported an increase in second-quarter revenue.
AMC’s total revenue grew by 15.6% year-over-year.
Key Facts
Aron said in the company’s second-quarter report that releases for Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and Sound of Freedom in July had combined for AMC’s highest monthly revenue ever.
AMC’s total revenue grew by 15.6% year-over-year to $1.35 billion in the second quarter from April to June, beating the $1.29 billion expected by analysts, according to Yahoo! Finance, as the company recorded a 12% growth in attendance.
Net income was $8.6 million, after reporting a net loss of $121.6 million the previous year.
The domestic movie industry is 20% ahead of where it was last year, according to Aron, who said the “second half of the year could be better” unless ongoing writer and actor strikes “wind up delaying the release of movie titles into next year.”
Shares of AMC—a longtime “meme stock” that often wildly fluctuates in price—rose 5.6% to $5.41 in pre-market trading as of 9:13 a.m. EST.
Crucial Quote
Aron said AMC was moving with a “significant pace in the second quarter,” after results “set new records and represent AMC’s strong second quarter in four full years.”
Big Number
$2.3 billion. That’s how much AMC has reported in revenue for 2023 through its first two quarters, a 17.9% increase over the previous year.
Key Background
The theater industry has struggled to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, but 2023 is on track to be the healthiest year at the box office since the coronavirus forced most movie theaters to close, with AMC reporting its highest quarterly attendance since late 2019 in the second quarter. Releases for Barbie and Oppenheimer combined for a surge in box office sales last month, as the films have earned a combined $1.5 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Barbie is the second film to eclipse $1 billion in global sales this year, trailing The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.3 billion) for the highest-grossing film this year. Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, has earned $490 million at the international box office. Sound of Freedom—criticized for the lead actor’s QAnon ties—has earned over $164 at the domestic box office, surpassing other high-budget films like Dead Reckoning Part One and Fast X in the U.S. Other films are expected to increase box office sales later this year, including The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Dune: Part Two, in addition to Disney’s The Marvels.
Further Reading
‘Barbie’ Tops $1 Billion At Global Box Office (Forbes)
‘Barbie’ Dominates Box Office For Yet Another Week—As ‘Meg 2’ Secures Second Spot (Forbes)
AMC Stock Surges 38% After Court Rejects Stock Conversion Plan (Forbes)
