Last summer’s actor and writer strikes are still reverberating through the theater industry, according to AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron. As a result of the work stoppage, Hollywood studios have upended much of their early 2024 release schedule and delayed major films that couldn’t be completed on schedule — leaving theater operators with less to offer their patrons in the first half of the year.
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest exhibitor, certainly felt the shortfall of blockbusters as the company missed quarterly earnings expectations. The theater chain’s revenue fell 31% in the second quarter of 2024, to $1.030 billion from $1.347 billion in the year-ago period. Net loss for the three months also widened to $32.8 million, compared with $8.6 million in the quarter ended June 2023.
“As we accurately predicted and previously disclosed, the prolonged actor and writer strikes in 2023 have significantly reduced the number of films released in theaters in the first months of 2024,” said Adam Aron, AMC’s chairman and chief executive. “This explains the weakness in our preliminary results for the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter last year.”
Earlier this week, AMC Theatres reached an agreement to restructure a portion of its debt to extend maturities by at least three years. The company currently has $4.5 billion in debt, including more than $2.8 billion in maturities that have been deferred from 2026 to 2029 and 2030.
“We are increasingly confident in the future of our business as we continue to take the necessary actions to best position AMC to thrive in a more favorable environment,” Aron said Monday.
May and June releases like Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” and “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” were bright spots in an otherwise bleak period for moviegoers. Previous summer offerings like “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Fall Guy” and “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” were flops that kicked off the all-important popcorn season with a thud rather than a bang. Still, exhibitors have reason to be optimistic even as domestic revenues are down 17% in 2024 compared to the same frame in 2023 and about 35% behind 2019. That’s because the North American box office is finally gaining momentum with “Despicable Me 4,” “Twisters” and the upcoming “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
“If we were to look at just the entire quarter, the casual observer could easily miss the incredibly good news that occurred in the second quarter. Finally, theatrical moviegoing appears to be on an upward trajectory again. AMC enjoyed a significant increase in our daily revenue in June 2024 compared to April and May 2024,” said Aron. “So far, the impressive box office performance in July has continued. AMC continues to be confident that industry-wide movie revenues for the second half of 2024, and into 2025 and 2026, will continue to show increasing strength.”
