During a quarter in which box office grosses started off weaker, the nation’s biggest exhibitor AMC Theatres posted a net loss as well as revenue almost $300 million below the comparable frame a year ago.
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The movie theater chain, led by CEO Adam Aron, posted total revenue of $1.03 billion and a loss of $32.8 million in the second quarter of 2024. Attendance fell from 66 million-plus patrons at its theaters a year ago to about 50 million in its latest quarter, about a 25 percent decline. The U.S. market saw a slightly higher decline in quarterly attendance compared to attendance at its theater locations in international markets.
Aron, who repeated “cash is king” multiple times during an earnings call with investors, said that the company had “ample” cash reserves of $770 million in its coffers to weather the box office storm amid its debt woes. “So much of our debt has been pushed so far out in to the future that it’s not even an issue,” Aron added of the company’s debt refinancing efforts, calling unnamed critics “Nervous Nellies” for noting AMC’s debt loads.
The CEO reiterated that the theater giant was prepared for a slower year given the lack of studio product compared to pre-COVID years.
“As expected, the second quarter started slowly with the box office adversely impacted by the 2023 Hollywood writers and actors strikes,” Aron said, referring to studio delays for movies that had been in production during Hollywood’s extended work stoppage last year. “However, the quarter finished with incredible strength powered by the success of Disney’s Inside Out 2 , which is now the highest grossing animated movie of all time.”
Last year in the second quarter The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which grossed $1.3 billion globally) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($845 million) helped power the box office in April and early May. This year didn’t have the blockbusters that hit the same heights: April had A24’s Civil War ($122 million) and May was led by Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($397 million). It took Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($395 million) and Inside Out 2 ($1.5 billion) to help salvage the quarter for theater owners in June.
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The quarter ended June 30 so the figures don’t reflect Twisters successful launch ($235 million so far) or Deadpool & Wolverine ‘s record breaking bow in July (now at $590 million and counting), which will help boost the chain in its third quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for AMC hit $29.4 million compared to $182.5 million for the year ago period.
Aron added, “Thanks to the success of Deadpool & Wolverine , just a week ago AMC recorded our highest-ever opening weekend attendance and highest-ever opening weekend admissions revenue for a rated-R movie.”
The CEO said that the box office has turned a corner and that the industry will see significant revenues in the second half of the year. While he cautioned that the third quarter of this year may not overtake Q3 of 2023 — that frame featured both Barbie and Oppenheimer — he was bullish nonetheless.
Also on Friday, Cinemark, the third largest theater chain in the U.S. by number of locations, reported total revenue for the quarter at $734.2 million, a decline of 22.1 percent compared to a year earlier. And Marcus Theatres, the No. 4 chain, disclosed on Thursday theater admission revenue of $48.5 million, a decline from about $69 million in the quarter a year earlier.
On an earnings call, Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble estimated that there would be about 100 wide release studio movies in 2024, down from last year, which had about 110 such releases. Gamble added, optimistically, “We continue to expect that we’ll see a rebound in overall volume next year somewhere between where 2023 landed and where we were pre-pandemic.”
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