AMC Theatres Quarterly Losses Hit $202.1 Million After Box Office Got Off to Rocky Start

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A lack of winter blockbusters took a bite out of AMC Theatres‘ quarterly earnings.

In 2025, AMC, the world’s largest cinema operator, saw its losses deepen to $202.1 million as the box office struggled initially. This period saw failures such as “Mickey 17,” “Snow White,” and “The Alto Knights.” This was a more gloomy financial situation compared to the previous year’s quarter when AMC reported losses of $163.5 million. For the three months ending in March, revenues dropped by 9%, from $951.4 million in 2024 to $862.5 million this year. Losses per share amounted to 58 cents, down from 78 cents in the previous quarter.

The results aligned with the predictions made by Wall Street analysts. They anticipated that the cinema titan would report a loss of 59 cents for each share in the first quarter, along with revenue of approximately $837 million, as stated by FactSet. After hours, AMC’s shares experienced a minimal decline, trading around $2.69 per share.

In a statement accompanying the results, AMC’s Chairman Adam Aron cautioned against drawing conclusions about the success or popularity of cinemas based on the first quarter of 2025. He considered the industry-wide domestic box office during this period as an unusual distortion that has already normalized. Despite this, he remains optimistic that the demand for moviegoing will exhibit robust strength throughout the remainder of 2025 and all of 2026.

Indeed, ticket sales have picked up during the second quarter, boosted by popular films like “Sinners,” “Minecraft,” and the latest “Thunderbolts.” However, it’s important to note that comparing these numbers to the first quarter of 2024 was always a tough task, given that blockbusters such as “Dune” sequel and the new “Kung Fu Panda” were launched during that period. The decrease in visitors was evident in the drop in AMC’s admissions earnings, which dipped 11% to $473.5 million, and concession sales, which plummeted almost 12% to $283.4 million.

Apart from the years affected by the pandemic, Aron mentioned that the box office earnings from January to March have been the least since 1996.

He stated that if the current pace persists, it would certainly pose challenges for cinemas. However, contrary to such assumptions, there’s been a surge in demand for movies theatres since April 1st. In fact, the domestic box office earnings in April 2025 were twice as much as they were in April 2024, and so far in May, they’ve been doubling the figures from last year. Consequently, we think that any pessimistic predictions about the movie theatre industry based on first quarter results might be completely incorrect.

AMC said it had cash and cash equivalents of $378.7 million.

During a meeting with analysts, Aron discussed President Trump’s idea of imposing a 100% tariff on films produced outside of the U.S., an initiative that experts in the field predict would significantly escalate film production costs. There is apprehension that this move might lead to a decrease in the number of movies available for cinemas such as AMC, but Aron maintained a tactful approach.

He explained that, at this point, there are no definitive decisions or detailed plans regarding what will happen next. However, there will be plenty of chances for dialogues between the government and the industry about this matter. It’s also important to note that we’ll closely monitor any updates in this field.

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2025-05-08 01:33