AMC Entertainment, owner of the world’s largest movie theater circuit, lost more than $900 million in the third quarter, even with the vast majority of its locations open for business.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the film business in March, AMC has reopened 539 locations, or 90% of its 600 U.S. movie houses.
But the Leawood, Kan.-based exhibitor’s Monday earnings report is the latest sign that, lacking new Hollywood movies and a coronavirus vaccine, patrons will be slow to return to their local multiplexes.
AMC, owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, reported a loss of $905.8 million during the three months that ended Sept. 30, compared with the company’s $54.8-million loss during the same period of time a year ago. The firm’s revenue was $119.5 million, down 91% from the prior-year quarter.
The global health crisis has proved to be an existential threat to the movie theater industry, and especially to AMC, which went into the situation with a heavy debt load. AMC has spent much of the pandemic warding off the threat of bankruptcy by restructuring its debt and taking other measures to improve its balance sheet.