AMC’s brutal first-quarter earnings report highlighted the significant struggles faced by the exhibition sector. AMC posted a quarterly loss of $202.1 million, almost 25% more than last year’s Q1 loss of $163.5 million. CEO Adam Aron called out the fact that first-quarter grosses were at their lowest level since 1996, even without adjusting for inflation. “If that level of activity were to continue, of course, it would be highly problematic for movie theatres.”
Investors are tempted to peg the health of the industry as a whole to the fortunes of AMC, the world’s largest circuit. AMC’s announcement comes on the heels of a similarly disappointing report from Cinemark, which announced its own quarterly results last week.
Because analysts had already priced in a bad quarter from AMC, the company’s share price fell only slightly after the announcement. Aron highlighted the box office rebound in the second quarter, saying, “Since April 1, movie theatre demand has been booming.
The April 2025 industry-wide domestic box office was double that of April 2024, and so far in May, the box office again has been running at double the rate of a year ago.” This is consistent with messaging from other major circuits, including Cineplex and Cinemark.