AMC Theatres Shrinks First Quarter Loss, Sees Revenues Dip on Weaker Box Office

AMC Entertainment Holdings has seen its first-quarter revenues edge down slightly on weaker box office in the wake of the dual Hollywood strikes last year, and its net loss narrow as Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong played in its theaters.

On Wednesday, the parent of AMC Theatres reported overall revenues for the three months to March 31, 2024 hitting $951.4 million, just down from a year-earlier $954.4 million, which came amid a 6 percent overall decline in the first quarter North American box office for Hollywood films, compared to 2023.

The premiere on its screens of titles like Dune: Part Two and Kung Fu Panda 4 in early March helped offset a slow box office start this year in January and February. The net loss at the giant cinema chain came in at $163.5 million, which shrank a year-earlier loss of $235.5 million. And the diluted loss per-share was 62 cents, against a year-earlier loss per-share of $1.71.

Ahead of the market close on Wednesday, analysts forecast first-quarter revenue of $871 million for AMC Theatres, and a predicted loss per-share of 79 cents. In the first quarter, AMC saw admissions revenue fall to $530.5 million, compared to a year-earlier $534.1 million, while concessions sales were also down at $321.2 million, against a year-earlier $328.7 million.

During the latest financial quarter, AMC reported global attendance at 46.6 million patrons, down 2.1 percent from 47.6 million during the year-ago period as the company recovers from the depths of the pandemic. The U.S. attendance came in at 30.4 million patrons, compared to 32.3 million in the same period of 2023, which was offset by international markets attracting 16.1 million moviegoers, against a year-earlier 15.2 million.

“Despite a 6 percent decline in the first quarter 2024 North American box office compared to 2023, we grew our domestic market share, maintained total revenues in line with the prior year, and continued to grow our per patron profitability metrics at levels well above pre-pandemic measures. This, coupled with proactive cost containment initiatives to tackle the near-term box office challenges posed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, led to AMC’s outperformance,” AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron said in a statement ahead of an after-market analyst call.

On an analyst call, Aron predicted the current second quarter box office will also be impacted by the Hollywood strikes, and will “fall significantly below last year’s second quarter,” when movie hits like the Super Mario Bros. animated adventure comedy and franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Fast & Furious and Transformers played on his screens.

The latest earnings from AMC Theatres offer a report card on how much the company and its U.S. exhibition peers have been lifted by a box office rebound at the multiplex as the COVID-19 crisis has faded.

AMC Theatres investors are also viewing a volatile share price for the cinema giant, which comes as current box office trends improve, but AMC is still weighed down by a high debt load at around $4.5 billion and ongoing operating costs.

Aron discussed around $2.8 billion in corporate bond obligations that will mature in 2026 and that his company has pitched extending that out to lenders. “The good news is that we have lender syndicates who generally like AMC, have worked with us before, are working with us now. I’m hopeful that we will come to some conclusions that will allow us to push out the debt maturities from 2026 into future periods,” he told analysts.

“We know that our obligations are coming forward. We intend to refinance, if at all possible. And we’re hopeful that we can do so on attractive terms,” Aron added as a debt maturity wall looms.

He also told analysts that AMC had $624 million of unrestricted cash on hand at the end of the first quarter, and the company raised another $124.1 million of equity capital so far in the second quarter for its rainy day cash reserves. “With cash in the bank, we are better prepared to weather any storm,” he added, which more recently included the impact of the Hollywood strikes and disruption to the movie production and release slates from studio suppliers.