AMC Theatres Swings to Loss on Revenue Fall

AMC Entertainment Holdings has seen its third-quarter revenues fall and a swing to a net loss as Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 played on its screens.

On Wednesday, the parent of AMC Theatres reported overall revenues at $1.34 billion, down 4.1 percent from a year-earlier $1.4 billion on higher cinema attendance when the exhibitor got a boost from Oppenheimer and Barbie in its theaters. Total admissions revenue fell to $744.2 million, compared to a year-earlier $798 million, but that was offset by higher food and beverage revenues at $490.4 million, compared to a year-earlier $482.7 million.

The exhibitor's third quarter in 2023 also saw the release of The Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour via its AMC Theatres Distribution division. The net loss at the giant cinema chain came in at $20.7 million, a swing from a year-earlier profit of $12.3 million. The diluted per-share loss was 6 cents, against a year-earlier per-share profit of 8 cents.

The latest results at AMC Theatres give a window into how the company's domestic and European locations are faring amid a wider industry rebound in Hollywood box office coming out of the pandemic era.

"Admittedly, some of our third quarter metrics of 2024 were behind those of last year. However, we believe of much greater importance is our bullishness about the impressive movie slate that is coming to our theatres in November and December of 2024, and continuing in 2025 and again in 2026. Based on what we know now, we expect that the industry-wide box office should markedly rise at year-end and rise yet again for the next two years," AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.

Aron pointed to stronger Hollywood box office in the second half of 2024, compared to the first six months. "We anticipate that the Q4 2024 domestic box office will emphatically surpass last year's Q4 results," he told analysts during an after-market conference call, with Hollywood box office momentum only building into 2025 and 2026.

A week ago, rival Cinemark, the third largest theater chain in the U.S. by number of locations, posted third quarter revenue of $921.8 million, up 5.4 percent from the year-ago period. And also Wednesday, Canadian exhibition giant Cineplex reported $395.6 million in third quarter revenues, down 4.6 percent from year-earlier revenues at $463.5 million.

AMC has also pursued the rights to show other live concerts and sports on its big screens as the mega-cinema chain looks to diversify into alternative content, in line with a wider exhibition industry evolving away from a traditional reliance on Hollywood tentpoles.

During its latest quarter, AMC Theatres saw just over 65 million patrons move through its theaters, down 11.5 percent from 73.5 million during the same period of 2023. Around 46.9 million patrons attended AMC's U.S. theaters, down from a year-earlier 51.5 million, while international theaters hosted 18.1 million patrons during the third quarter, down from 22 million in the same period of 2023.

The cinema chain has seen its stock dramatically rise and fall since 2021 due to retail traders encouraged by Reddit embracing company shares as a meme stock. Online traders buying AMC shares sent its value at one point to $35 in 2021.

That meme stock mania has allowed the company to raise fresh cash with stock sales for a financial lifeline. On Wednesday, shares in AMC Theatres fell by 24 cents, or just over 5 percent to $4.34 in after-hours trading following the release of its third quarter financial results.