AMC Shares Go Full Super Saiyan in Real Box Office Boom—No GameStop Coattails In Sight

Alright, I’m going to be honest here…. If you’d told 2021 me that AMC would rocket nearly 24% not because Reddit degenerates were YOLOing their stimmies, but because people actually left their couches, risked sticky theater floors, and bought $17 sodas… Well, I’d have laughed so hard I’d have choked on my own Milk Duds. And yet, here we are: the meme stonk, just pulled off a record-smashing Memorial Day cash grab, powered by actual, tangible business results. Eat your heart out, GameStop. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, 7 million butts-in-seats at AMC (and ODEON) screens worldwide from Thursday to Monday. That’s a New York City sized population of people voluntarily submitting themselves to the trauma of expensive Raisinets and surround sound. And naturally, CEO Adam Aron, was just as surprised as I was of the resurgence stating, “Finally it would appear that our industry has turned a corner.” And he wasn’t kidding. AMC broke all-time records for admissions revenue, food & beverage sales, and total revenue at its US theaters. Bigly. 

However, it wasn’t just AMC living it’s own fantasy. Cinemark also broke box office and concession records thanks to big-deal premieres like the live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and Tom Cruise’s latest attempt to prove he’s still legally allowed to do his own stunts in “Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning”. According to Cinemark’s CEO, “the immersive, cinematic experience was firing on all cylinders”. Meaning, it wasn’t just boats, Coors Light, and party hats that were the hot commodity over the weekend… It was movies that kept theaters from acting as pre-Netflix relics for once

(Source: Quartz) . 

Oh, and Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian called this summer’s schedule a “box office traffic jam” with “too many good films”... meanwhile, the consensus is saying we’re on track for a $4B summer, which is the best since the Avengers cooked with Endgame. To be fair, domestic movie sales have already blown past $3B this year, up 24% vs. last year’s sad, strike-scrambled lineup. But clearly, the fact that studios are playing nothing but hits (think: Minecraft, Sinners, Moana 2, and whatever else TikTok tells you to see) shows its working. 

Working, that is, in a world where attention spans of Gen Z are practically non-existent. For instance, film critic Kristen Maldonado nailed it: viewers are way pickier now, only dragging themselves to the theater for “must-see spectacles” or Tom Cruise-related insurance fraud. The era of “eh, it’s raining, let’s see whatever’s playing” is dead, and AMC’s next existential crisis is just one dud away.

(Source: Giphy) 

But for now, AMC’s stock has mooned for something other than meme magic or sh*tcoin dilution. And you can bet your last $20 bill that Adam Aron is already drafting the next share sale prospectus behind the concession stand. Of course, only time will tell if the hype holds, but it’s clear AMC definitely had a field day. Let’s just see if they can continue the momentum… that is, before Roaring Kitty crashes the party somehow. Until next time, friends…

Stocks.News holds positions in Netflix as mentioned in the article.