AMC Theatres Q2 2024 revenue: $32 million loss

In a quarter that saw a slow start to box office revenues, the nation’s largest movie chain, AMC Theatres, reported a net loss and revenue down nearly $300 million from the same period a year earlier.

The theater chain, led by CEO Adam Aron, reported total revenue of $1.03 billion and a loss of $32.8 million in the second quarter of 2024. Attendance fell from more than 66 million theatergoers a year ago to about 50 million in the latest quarter, a drop of about 25 percent. The U.S. market saw a slightly larger drop in quarterly attendance compared with international moviegoing.

Aron, who repeatedly said “cash is king” during an earnings call with investors, said the company has “ample” cash reserves of $770 million on its books to weather the cash storm amid the debt woes. “So much of our debt has been pushed so far into the future that it’s not even an issue,” Aron added of the company’s debt refinancing efforts, calling anonymous critics “Nervous Nellies” for noticing AMC’s debt burden.

The CEO reiterated that the movie giant is prepared for a slower year due to a smaller number of studio products compared to pre-COVID-19 years.

“As expected, the second quarter started slowly, with box office results negatively impacted by the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes,” Aron said, referring to delays to films that were in production during last year’s extended Hollywood shutdown. “However, the quarter ended on an incredible note, driven by Disney’s success From inside to outside 2“, which is currently the highest-grossing animated film of all time.”

Last year in the second quarter Super Mario Bros. Movie (which grossed $1.3 billion worldwide) and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 ($845 million) helped fuel the box office in April and early May. There have been no blockbusters this year that have reached the same highs: A24 in April 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 dollars) and From inside to outside 2 ($1.5 billion) to help theater owners save the June quarter.

The quarter ended on June 30, so the numbers do not reflect Whirlwinds successful launch ($235 million to date) or Deadpool and Wolverinerecord beak in July (now $590 million and rising), which will help bolster the network in the third quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for AMC reached $29.4 million, compared with $182.5 million in the same period a year earlier.

Aron added: “Thanks to the success Deadpool and Wolverine“Just one week ago, AMC recorded its highest opening weekend attendance and highest opening weekend box office receipts ever for an R-rated film.”

The CEO said the box office has turned around and that the industry will see significant revenue in the second half of the year. He warned that the third quarter of this year may not surpass the third quarter of 2023, which has seen both Barbie doll AND Oppenheimer — despite everything, he was optimistic.

Also on Friday, Cinemark, the third-largest U.S. movie-theater chain by number of locations, reported total revenue for the quarter of $734.2 million, down 22.1% from a year earlier. And Marcus Theatres, the No. 4 chain, reported revenue from admissions of $48.5 million on Thursday, down from about $69 million in the year-earlier quarter.

During an earnings conference call, Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble estimated there will be about 100 wide-release arthouse films in 2024, down from about 110 last year. Gamble added optimistically: “We still expect to see a rebound in the total number of films next year somewhere between 2023 and where we were before the pandemic.”