AMC Theatres Lose $900 Million During Pandemic

We have entered the time when prestige movies are usually flooding theaters. I would be using my Stubs account now to see three films a week and making my yearly top ten list. Instead, I'm streaming movies and TV shows at home and hoping 2021 leads us to greener pastures. 

And so is AMC. 

They just released some bleak numbers for the end of 2020. 

Losses hit $905.8 million, or $8.41 cents a share. Last year in the same quarter, AMC logged revenues of $1.3 billion on a net loss of $54.8 million, or 53 cents a share.  

We know COVID-19 is destroying theaters, but these numbers are still staggering. 

The theater chain has raised almost $50 million to just keep the doors open, but this kind of situation cannot continue for much longer. 

“The simple question becomes will we raise that needed capital or not?” Adam Aron, CEO and president of AMC, said during a call on Monday. Later, he added, “All we have to do is raise a little money and we’ll be just fine.”

Aron knows the world has changed, but he was ready to fight streaming, not a global pandemic. 

“The conversations we’re having with every major studio is that AMC is not stuck back in 1965,” Aron said. “We understand that the world of streaming is upon us.”

As of the end of October 2020, AMC was operating approximately 539 of its 600 domestic locations, and approximately 261 of its 358 international locations. But that was due to the pandemic, not people watching things at home. 

This battle is on two fronts, and unless the theaters are bailed out by the government or unless there's a competent vaccine soon, they'll continue to struggle. 

Have you gone back to a movie theater if they're open near you? Why or why not?