AMC Entertainment posts second-quarter loss due to dead spring box office

Leading movie operator AMC Entertainment reported a loss of 10 cents per share and a 24% drop in revenue in the second quarter due to a film industry strike.

While they may have been choppy, the financials matched Wall Street analysts’ estimates and AMC shares rose in after-market trading. The loss compared with a profit of 6 cents a share in the same period a year ago, while revenue of $1.03 billion fell from $1.348 billion in the fiscal 2023 quarter.

CEO Adam Aron, a notable corporate optimist, said the dynamic changes in the market have him feeling optimistic about the second half of 2024. After a disturbingly quiet spring and major disappointments like Fall Guy, which typically kicks off the summer in early May, Inside Out 2’s triumph kicked off a resurgence that has continued into the current heyday of Deadpool and Wolverine.

“As expected, the second quarter started slowly, with box office results negatively impacted by the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes. However, the quarter ended on an incredible strength, driven by the success of Disney’s Inside Out 2,” Aron said in the earnings release. The company “saw a remarkable contrast between an early quarter with a lack of releases and an end-of-quarter record-breaking film that delighted audiences in our theaters. The difference between AMC’s results at the beginning of the quarter and our results at the end of the quarter was as if we were two completely different companies, surrounded by two completely different industry dynamics.”

The publication of the company’s financial results follows the publication of a preliminary report on financial results for the quarter in July.