AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron provided some further details in an earnings call on Monday about his company’s plans to reduce the length of the ad and trailer-stuffed pre-show his customers see before their movie by “four or five minutes.”
In recent months, AMC customers have been notified on the theater chain’s online ticketing service that they should expect that the movie will start 25-30 minutes after the listed showtime. It came after AMC reached a deal with theatrical advertising company National CineMedia (NCM) to run their ads starting in July.
Aron told investors and financial analysts that his company decided to make a deal with NCM following the historically poor box office during the first quarter of 2025. Given that NCM has similar ad deals with other major chains like Cinemark and Regal, Aron said it was “irresponsible” for AMC to not follow suit.
“We were forgoing tens of millions of dollars that our competitors were taking,” he said.
While it’s been a respite for some moviegoers who show up late or get stuck in long concessions lines, the parade of ads, seven or more trailers, and Nicole Kidman’s now infamous AMC ad reel have become a source of frustration for many others who are tired of waiting to see what they paid for. The NCM deal allows for ads to run five minutes past the listed showtime before trailers run along with a one-minute spot before the last two trailers.
But studio marketing executives have told TheWrap there is worry that audiences will become more willing to arrive late in an effort to avoid as much of the pre-show as possible, meaning that they will miss trailers. At a time when the atomization of entertainment has made it more challenging to market films, seeing trailers in theaters still stands as the most effective means of raising awareness of coming attractions.
So what’s AMC going to do? Aron says the trims won’t come from the NCM ads. Those are contractually obligated. Instead, the company is looking into shortening its in-house reels telling moviegoers to silence their cellphones and not talk during the movie.
“Those play about four to five minutes in length, and we think we can take two or three minutes out of that,” he said.
AMC has also surveyed the number of trailers that it screens compared to other chains and found that on average, it screens one more trailer than the competition. Aron says they will cut out that extra trailer, taking off another two or three minutes from the preshow.
“We knew that when we made the NCM deal, we might have to make a tradeoff,” Aron said. “If we’re adding six minutes in NCM ad time, we would have to reduce a trailer or cut down some of our own marketing fluff in advance of the feature film.”
The ad cutbacks aren’t the only customer-friendly moves AMC has made. Last month, the chain announced that members of its free loyalty program would be able to enjoy 50% off tickets on Wednesdays in addition to the long-established discount Tuesdays for all customers. Aron said when the new program was unveiled that the box office had stabilized enough that the chain could now afford to offer two discount weekdays a week.
A big factor in that has been a continued rise in per patron spending as moviegoers continue to buy concessions more frequently. Food and beverage revenue per patron this past quarter reached a record $7.95, with overall revenue per patron reached a record $22.26 while attendance increased 25.6% year-over-year.
It should be noted that revenue was driven in part by an increase in ticket prices for screenings from Thursday through Sunday, counterbalancing the 50% off Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
AMC reported a significant loss cut in the second quarter of 2025 thanks to a resurgent box office driven by “Sinners,” “A Minecraft Movie,” and remakes of “Lilo & Stitch” and “How to Train Your Dragon” that bumped revenue by 36% Its stock took a bump accordingly by 3.4% on Monday to $3/share.
