- Films like “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “Scream 7” helped AMC blow past the $862 million revenue total recorded in a slumping Q1 2025.
- The theater chain, which has navigated significant debt and a turbulent film industry, points to 2026 as a year of sustained profit thanks to multiple high profile titles
- AMC also announced a new partnership to bring live-streamed, interactive music performances from a purpose-built stage
AMC Theatres showed a little extra pep in its step on Tuesday, with a first-quarter loss not deterring its leadership team from expressing its optimism for the year.
The results come after the movie studios have committed to a long-sought 45-day window, a line-up of movies that are already topping expectations and a new partnership that the company touted on its earnings conference call. It’s enough to believe that exhibitors are finally seeing the light after years of challenges.
“So much has been breaking our way of late,” CEO Adam Aron said on the call.
The strong start to the year let the company narrow its first-quarter loss to $117 million, or 36 cents per share, a notable improvement from last year’s loss of $202 million, or 58 cents per share. AMC’s revenue rose 21% $1.04 billion to beat Wall Street projections of $997 million, though its loss fell short of a projected loss of 32 cents per share, according to Zacks Investment Research.
“These results are a clear testament to our disciplined operating execution in maximizing AMC’s revenue growth while simultaneously containing our costs, combined with an unwavering commitment to elevating the moviegoing experience,” Aron said. “Our much-improved results clearly demonstrate the operating leverage inherent in our business, generating markedly improving results at a time when revenues are rising,” Aron continued.
He pointed to a strong financial position for the company, opportunities to work with Netflix, a new venture to live stream concerts to hundreds of its theaters at once and the promise of a stronger Paramount combined with Warner Bros. Discovery as reasons for his optimism.
Dealing with debt
AMC has faced a high wire act since the pandemic, navigating a period of slower theatrical output from major Hollywood studios and handling a $4 billion debt load even after paying off hundreds of millions in that notes thanks to its 2021 meme stock surge.
But Aron pointed to a resurgent theatrical slate and renewed commitments to a minimum 45-day theatrical window from multiple studios as a reason to be optimistic about his company’s future, along with the moves that AMC has made to manage its debt load.
“We have been actively working to strengthen our balance sheet by enhancing
liquidity and improving financial flexibility,” Aron said. “We recently refinanced $400 million of debt due in 2027, extending the maturity by four full years to 2031, while simultaneously reducing our annual cash interest expense. We are also currently converting some $155 million of debt into equity. To bolster cash reserves, we raised approximately $72 million of gross proceeds through our at-the-market equity program.”
AMC has also sold a portion of its holdings in the mining company Hycroft, generating $54 million in cash from its initial $27.9 million investment.
The theater, the streamer and the wardrobe
Aron also hailed Netflix for its announcement that Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” would be moved from November 2026 to Presidents Day weekend in 2027 and receive a seven-week theatrical window before being released on streaming.
Aron called Netflix’s “Narnia” windowing commitment “the biggest opportunity our industry has ever had to embrace Netflix as a theatrical content provider.” He said that since last September, AMC and Netflix have developed strong “interpersonal dynamics” with the theatrical release of the series finale of “Stranger Things” and new episodes of “One Piece,” and while he could not speak to whether Netflix was planning further theatrical projects, he said that AMC was looking forward to working with the streamer in the years ahead.
“Netflix is well aware that AMC is strongly in their corner. We are all-in with respect to ‘Narnia,’ and we will continue to seek more opportunity for our two great companies to work together in future,” he said.
Aron also commended other studios like Universal and Paramount for their recent commitments to a 45-day window, as well as Disney’s years of commitment to windows of more than two months going back to “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2022. Several major tentpoles like Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and Universal’s “The Odyssey” are not expected to arrive on streaming services until at least three months after their theatrical release, which will give AMC and other chains more opportunity to maximize revenue from those films.
A live concert experiment
AMC also announced a new supplement to Hollywood’s offerings via a new partnership with Arena One, which the company hopes will further develop its campaign to bring top music stars to its screens that began with Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” in 2023.
Instead of concert films or livestreams of arena shows, Arena One performances will involve artists like Bebe Rexha and Maren Morris performing on a purpose-built stage that will be interactively connected to hundreds of AMC auditoriums, allowing artists to interact with fans nationwide.
Aron said that tickets to Arena One shows will vary by artists, but he estimates that they will be priced between $40 and $75, a range higher than the usual movie ticket price but lower than the get-in ticket price for many top music artists. Arena One will launch on June 17 with more artists to be announced in the weeks ahead.
David Ellison’s promise
Aron also reiterated comments he made at CinemaCon expressing AMC’s support for Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. and optimism that it will make good on its promise to release 30 films per year following the merger — a break from trade group Cinema United’s vow to fight the deal.
Aron’s comments on Paramount Skydance’s pursuit of Warner had been positive but relatively light in past earnings calls. But over the past month, that support has become more full-throated based on both public comments made by CEO David Ellison at public events like CinemaCon and in private conversations between AMC and Paramount.
“We have the sincerest trust in the leadership under David at Paramount and we fully believe he is sincere in the promise he made and confident in his ability to pull it off,” Aron said.
AMC shares slipped a penny in after-hours trading to $1.58.
