AMC Theatres saw its “best week ever” after generating historic admissions revenue from the debut showings of Barbie and Oppenheimer.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. announced Monday that between July 21 and July 27, the national movie theater chain had achieved its highest single-week admissions revenue in the company’s more than 100-year history.
The moviegoing experience has suffered in recent years due to the onset of streaming services and a perceived lack of quality storytelling. AMC’s record-setting week goes to show that there is still a vast market of passionate moviegoers longing for a return to form and a quality escapist experience worth the price of admission.
“The monumental success of BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER has the entire movie and movie theatre industry abuzz, with discussions of new records and new benchmarks being realized seemingly wherever you turn,” AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron said in the news release.
“Achieving the most admissions revenue in a single week in AMC’s storied 103-year history is a testament to the moviegoing audience, who has demonstrated once again that they are ready, willing, and eager to come out to movie theatres in huge numbers,” he continued.
Although AMC reported its highest single-week admissions revenue ever in July, the company has struggled to clear billions in debt off its balance sheet following the pandemic lockdowns in 2020.
In a statement shared on social media, Aron highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of AMC Theaters and the various financial risks associated with the recent writer’s strike.
“If you are rooting for a full pandemic recovery for AMC in 2024 or 2025, as I am, the huge box office caused by Barbenheimer has to be a good and optimistic sign. Still, none of this changes that the year-to-date box office remains lower than that of 2019, or that there is uncertainty due to our having to cope with the potentially debilitating writers and actors strikes,” he explained.
In his letter to shareholders, Aron highlighted the “existential importance” of raising capital from the equity market to stave off a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“AMC Entertainment must put ourselves in a position to be able to raise equity capital,” Aron said. “That is what will make it more likely that first we survive and then we thrive.”
However, in reality, AMC Theaters has already diluted its float multiple times since 2021, going as far as to create a special preferred share dividend called A.P.E. (AMC Preferred Equity), which ultimately diminished shareholder value and harmed retail investors.
Although Aron brings up in his letter the “enormous short position” in the company’s stock (NYSE: AMC), he has repeatedly dismissed the notion that alleged market manipulation was responsible for the low share price of AMC stock.
“Guys, don’t believe everything you read on Twitter,” Aron said, reported TheStreet. “Yes, it’s true that we have a lot of short sellers who have sold our shares short. But all the stuff that you read about market manipulation and fails to deliver and… the billions of synthetic shares out there, that’s not our problem.”
As chairman and CEO, however, it is Aron’s fiduciary responsibility to investigate any alleged wrongdoing with the company’s shares that may be impacting the price of AMC stock.
The Dallas Express contacted AMC’s vice president of corporate communications and public relations, Ryan Noonan, for additional information relating to the company’s historic single-week admissions revenue but had not heard back at the time of publishing.
