AMC Entertainment shares rose as much as 6% in premarket trading early on Thursday after the company reported a new quarterly high for attendance, as well as earnings for the second quarter that were better than Wall Street expected.
The theater chain that it had 97 million tickets sold in the second quarter, which was a new all time quarterly high. Admissions revenue for the quarter, however, was down slightly to $895.5 million compared with $896.3 million during the same quarter a year ago.
AMC reported net earnings of $49.4 million during the second quarter, or per-share earnings of 17 cents, which compared to 17 cents per-share earnings during the same period last year. Analysts covering the stock via Yahoo Finance had expected the company to report earnings per share of 16 cents.
Overall revenue for the quarter hit $1.51 billion, up from last year’s $1.44 billion, and above the $1.46 billion analysts forecast.
“In a quarter that generated the second largest domestic industry box office for any quarter in the past 100 years, we are especially gratified that AMC outperformed the rest of the U.S. industry in attendance per screen by 800 basis points and in admissions revenue per screen by 400 basis points,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a statement. “We continue to drive this performance by leveraging the power of the AMC platform: from experiential initiatives and enhancements at our theaters to a frictionless use of technology to communicate, engage and sell to our guests.
“We are seeing meaningful recovery in Europe, and our efforts in the United States have been greatly aided by the soaring popularity of our AMC Stubs loyalty program, which recently crossed 21 million member households, our AMC Stubs A-List subscription program now with more than 900,000 subscribers, and our AMCTheatres.com web site and smartphone apps now being visited at a pace of more than 1 billion times annually,” Aron continued.
Also during the quarter AMC said that it saw a record high in the amount of food and beverage bought per moviegoer. In total, the exhibitor generated $492.5 million in food and beverage revenue, selling an average of $5.58 worth of food and beverage per moviegoer in the U.S.
5 Biggest Summer Box Office Showdowns, Including 'Aladdin' vs. 'Godzilla' (Photos)
This summer's movie release slate sees notably fewer direct conflicts between films. Most major releases have at least two weeks distance between each other and will have time to make their fortunes as the biggest show in theaters. But some degree of competition is inevitable, so how will these films stand against tough competition?
Disney/Universal/Warner Bros.
"Pokemon: Detective Pikachu" vs. "Avengers: Endgame" (May 10)
Nothing is going to stop "Avengers" from becoming the biggest summer hit of all time and smashing all the records "Infinity War" earned last year. But "Endgame" could face a challenge in its third weekend: Warner Bros.' "Pokemon: Detective Pikachu" has been gathering buzz, especially among nostalgic millennials, and could stake out a $600-700 million global run.
Warner Bros./Marvel Studios
"Aladdin" vs. "Godzilla: King of Monsters" vs. "Rocketman"(May 31)
The end of May will see three very different films compete against each other, and there's no guarantee any of them will be a hit. For all its domination, Memorial Day weekend has been a source of disappointment for Disney, and buzz hasn't been strong for this year's studio entry: an "Aladdin" remake starring Will Smith. Warner Bros. counter-programs with "Godzilla: King of Monsters" with kaiju blowing stuff up. And both face off against the second weekend of Paramount's "Rocketman" which will try to do with Elton John what "Bohemian Rhapsody" did with Queen.
Warner Bros./Disney
"Men in Black: International" vs. "Dark Phoenix"(June 14)
Mid-June will see the arrival of this season's two riskiest blockbusters. Buzz over Fox's final "X-Men" film, "Dark Phoenix," has been tepid at best, and beating the $543 million global run of "X-Men: Apocalypse" is not looking likely. A week after "Dark Phoenix" comes Sony's "Men in Black" spinoff, sans Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. In their place is "Thor: Ragnarok" duo Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, whose chemistry will be the key selling point.
Fox/Sony
"Stuber" vs. "21 Bridges" vs. "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (July 12)
Sony could very well see the money deluge for "Avengers" overflow into its coffers with the Marvel Studios release, "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Expect the film to dominate the long July 4 weekend -- but it faces competition in its second week from STX's thriller "21 Bridges" with Chadwick Boseman Fox's action comedy "Stuber" with Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista.
STX/Fox/Sony
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" vs. "The Lion King"(July 26)
While you can Disney's latest live-action remake to dominate when it opens July 19, holding a second weekend may be challenging since he faces Quentin Tarantino's star-heavy period film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." (The auteur's last summer film, 2009'a "Inglourious Basterds," managed to gross $321 million worldwide.
Sony/Disney
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Summer Movie Preview 2019: Will the season’s biggest blockbusters smother their competition?
This summer's movie release slate sees notably fewer direct conflicts between films. Most major releases have at least two weeks distance between each other and will have time to make their fortunes as the biggest show in theaters. But some degree of competition is inevitable, so how will these films stand against tough competition?