AMC Record Quarter Posts $1.6 Billion Revenue as 71 Million Moviegoers Return

AMC Entertainment Holdings booked $1,596.7 million in total revenue and $321.4 million in adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended June 30, the largest quarterly figures in the exhibitor's 106-year history, according to results filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 20. Revenue rose 14.2 percent from $1,397.9 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA climbed 69.6 percent from $189.5 million and cleared $300 million in a quarter for the first time.

Adjusted diluted earnings reached 14 cents a share against roughly break-even adjusted results in the same quarter of 2025. Quartz reported that consensus estimates had modeled a loss near 6 cents. AMC shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading on July 20, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and StockStory recorded a 15.2 percent gain over the session.

Worldwide attendance reached 71.29 million patrons, up 13.5 percent from 62.81 million. Volume rather than pricing produced the AMC record quarter: the consolidated average ticket price actually slipped to $12.11 from $12.14.

Revenue mix and where the operating leverage came from

Admissions revenue totaled $863.1 million, up from $762.6 million. Food and beverage revenue reached $576.1 million against $499.6 million, and other theatre revenue, which captures advertising, ticketing fees and screen rentals, came in at $157.5 million versus $135.7 million. Concessions now supply 36.1 percent of the company's top line.

Cost behavior explains the rest of the AMC record quarter. Operating expense excluding depreciation was $458.4 million, identical to the prior-year quarter despite 8.5 million additional admissions. Rent rose 0.5 percent to $223.8 million. General and administrative expense outside merger costs fell to $52.0 million from $58.2 million, and depreciation and amortization declined to $76.1 million from $77.8 million. Film exhibition costs, the variable payment owed to distributors, rose to $440.3 million from $392.1 million, tracking box office rather than outrunning it.

Total operating costs increased 4.1 percent while revenue grew 14.2 percent. Operating income rose to $238.1 million from $92.6 million. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin widened to 20.1 percent from 13.6 percent, a figure Chairman and Chief Executive Adam Aron cited directly in the earnings release.

Segment disclosure shows how uneven the improvement was. United States markets generated $1,258.6 million of revenue and $285.6 million of adjusted EBITDA, up from $181.3 million. International markets produced $338.1 million of revenue and $35.8 million of adjusted EBITDA against $8.2 million, a gain Aron put at 336.7 percent.

Slate that filled 71.3 million seats

Domestic industry box office for the quarter reached approximately $2.99 billion, up 10.7 percent year over year, which Aron described as the biggest quarter in seven years and the fifth biggest on record. Six films opened above $75 million domestically during the period.

Gower Street Analytics counted $4.86 billion in international box office excluding mainland China for the quarter, the highest quarterly total of the decade, and $7.85 billion globally excluding China. For the first six months, domestic gross reached $4.8 billion, up 15 percent from the first half of 2025 and 7 percent above the same stretch of 2023. Global takings excluding China hit $14 billion, the best first half since 2019.

Individual titles carried the load. Toy Story 5 recorded the largest domestic opening weekend of 2026 and grossed $630 million worldwide during June, per Gower Street. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie stood as the year's top domestic earner at $427.1 million. Obsession reached $378 million globally and Backrooms $336 million. Lionsgate's Michael added $133 million during June for a $979 million running total, passing Bohemian Rhapsody at $904 million and Oppenheimer at $976 million to become the highest-grossing biopic ever released. Gower Street expects it to finish slightly above $1 billion worldwide.

AMC outgrew the market it sits in. Total domestic revenue rose 13.0 percent against the 10.7 percent industry box office rate, Aron said in the earnings release, while global food and beverage revenue climbed 15.3 percent, from $499.6 million to $576.1 million.

Ticket prices held while concession spending rose

Per-patron economics tell a more restrained story than the headline growth in the AMC record quarter. United States average ticket price eased to $12.70 from $12.77. International average ticket price rose to $10.45 from $10.30, helped in part by currency: on a constant currency basis revenue growth was 13.8 percent rather than 14.2 percent, and adjusted EBITDA was $320.6 million rather than $321.4 million.

Food and beverage revenue per patron increased to $8.95 in the United States from $8.77, and to $5.66 internationally from $5.54. Consolidated contribution margin per patron reached $14.71 against $14.48. Chief Financial Officer Sean Goodman told The Hollywood Reporter the company sees room to "grow our revenue per-patron without necessarily increasing prices."

Circuit size continues to shrink. AMC operated 845 theatres and 9,530 screens at quarter end, down from 864 theatres and 9,717 screens a year earlier, with average screens off 1.6 percent at 9,249. Management said on the call that the circuit has contracted by a net 159 theatres since 2020, comprising 66 openings against 225 closures. Higher attendance spread across fewer screens is the mechanical source of the margin expansion.

Six-month picture behind the quarterly record

First-half figures place the AMC record quarter in sequence rather than isolation. Revenue for the six months to June 30 was $2,642.1 million against $2,260.4 million, up 16.9 percent. Adjusted EBITDA of $359.7 million came to 2.7 times the $131.8 million booked in the first half of 2025, an improvement of $227.9 million. Net loss narrowed to $128.5 million from $206.8 million, and diluted loss per share to 20 cents from 48 cents.

Free cash flow swung to positive $15.4 million from negative $328.1 million, a $343.5 million move. Operating cash flow reached $106.9 million against an outflow of $231.6 million. Six-month attendance was 118.9 million against 104.7 million, with the consolidated average ticket price at $12.12 versus $11.80 and food and beverage revenue per patron at $7.77 versus $7.48.

Seasonality complicates any straight-line reading of that progress. First quarters are structurally the weakest period for exhibition, and the arithmetic of the two disclosures leaves roughly $38.3 million of adjusted EBITDA for the March quarter of 2026. Nearly all of the half's operating profit therefore arrived in the three months to June.

Debt reduced, share count expanded

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $778.4 million at June 30, excluding $41.1 million of restricted cash, against $423.7 million a year earlier and $428.5 million at the end of December. Net cash from operating activities was $235.4 million versus $138.4 million. Free cash flow reached $190.1 million against $88.9 million, on capital expenditures of $45.3 million.

During the quarter AMC refinanced $400 million of 12.75 percent senior secured notes due 2027, pushing that maturity out by four years. Holders of the 1.5 percent exchangeable notes due 2030 converted approximately $155.8 million of paper into common stock. A $150 million at-the-market equity program produced about $85.3 million of gross proceeds in the quarter, and a $200 million registered direct offering funded a redemption notice covering all $125.471 million of the 6.125 percent senior subordinated notes due 2027.

Aron said the quarter's actions cut annual cash interest expense by $16 million, and that lower leverage should trigger contractual rate step-downs on about 75 percent of the debt, reducing annual interest expense by roughly $51 million more if current leverage and benchmark rates hold. Principal debt balances have fallen approximately $1.7 billion since the end of 2020, and the company said it expects no material maturities before 2029.

Dilution is the price of that repair. Weighted average diluted shares outstanding reached 722.0 million in the quarter against 433.1 million a year earlier, an increase of 66.7 percent. Corporate borrowings at principal amount stood at $3,914.2 million, down from $4,024.2 million at the end of 2025. Stockholders' deficit narrowed to $1,452.7 million from $1,894.8 million. Interest expense still consumed $136.0 million in the quarter, which is why the GAAP bottom line stayed negative: net loss was $11.4 million, or 2 cents a share, wider than the $4.7 million loss a year earlier.

Below the operating line, other expense of $109.6 million reversed a $32.1 million credit in the year-ago quarter and accounts for most of the distance between record operating income and a GAAP loss. Interest expense broke down as $115.9 million on corporate borrowings, $1.7 million on finance lease obligations and $18.4 million on the non-cash National CineMedia exhibitor services agreement. Total assets stood at $8,043.6 million against $8,017.8 million at the end of 2025.

Competitor scoreboard from Cinemark to IMAX

Cinemark Holdings reported its own record on July 30, posting the first quarter in company history above $1 billion in worldwide revenue. Revenue reached $1,086.4 million, up 15.5 percent from $940.5 million, with worldwide admissions revenue of $540.0 million and concession revenue of $433.3 million, both all-time highs. Net income attributable to Cinemark was $139.4 million, or $1.19 a diluted share, against $93.5 million and 63 cents a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA reached $294.0 million at a 27.1 percent margin, ten basis points below the company record set in the first quarter of 2017. Attendance was 63.7 million patrons at a worldwide average ticket price of $8.48. Chief Executive Sean Gamble credited "the strength of our differentiated entertainment offerings" and "our ability to make the most of a robust box office environment."

Cinemark's 27.1 percent adjusted EBITDA margin sits seven percentage points above the 20.1 percent of the AMC record quarter, the clearest available measure of the distance between a circuit that avoided a pandemic-era debt spiral and one still carrying $3.9 billion of principal. Cinemark ended June with $504 million of cash and a net leverage ratio of 2.0 times.

Marcus Corporation, reporting fiscal second-quarter results on July 30, lifted total revenue 12.5 percent to $231.74 million from $206.04 million. Comparable theatre admissions revenue rose 16.6 percent on attendance growth of 10.9 percent, against industry box office growth of 11.5 percent. Adjusted EBITDA rose 43 percent to $46.2 million and diluted earnings per share more than doubled to 51 cents, the strongest second quarter since 2019. Its hotels division lifted comparable revenue per available room 13.9 percent.

IMAX Corporation, which sells premium capacity into AMC and Cinemark auditoriums rather than operating a circuit of its own, reported revenue of $103 million, up 12 percent, with record adjusted earnings of 43 cents a share and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 46.6 percent. Global IMAX box office of $285 million was the format's best second quarter since 2019. Leading IMAX titles were Michael at $69 million, The Mandalorian and Grogu at $42 million and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at $39 million.

Regal Cineworld Group, which left Chapter 11 protection on August 1, 2023, said global group revenue rose 24 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2026, with 35 million guests across its Cineworld, Picturehouse, Planet and Cinema City brands. Cineplex separately reported its highest second-quarter box office since 2019.

Premium screens absorb the capital budget

AMC's capital program, branded the Go Plan and announced in November 2024, commits $1 billion to $1.5 billion over four to seven years to recliner seating, laser projection, upgraded sound and premium formats. It targets 200 to 250 XL at AMC auditoriums in the United States on top of 68 already operating in Europe, with XL screens defined as at least 40 feet wide and fitted with 4K laser projection.

Management said on the July 20 call that AMC has added 77 premium large format screens and 193 XL auditoriums, and that some European recliner conversions are returning above 30 percent. Goodman said co-funding from landlords and technology vendors improves those returns.

Capital spending stayed modest relative to the cash the AMC record quarter generated: $45.3 million in the period and $91.5 million for the half, below the $49.5 million and $96.5 million spent in the equivalent 2025 periods. Management also disclosed the threshold that frames the entire model, telling investors AMC needs roughly $10.4 billion in annual domestic box office to be consistently free cash flow positive. Domestic gross stood at $4.8 billion through June, per Gower Street.

Analyst targets rise, ratings stay split

Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese raised her price target to $4 from $3 on July 21 while keeping an Outperform rating. Benchmark's Mike Hickey moved to $3 from $2.50 with a Buy. Needham initiated coverage at $3.50 the same day. B. Riley Securities analyst Drew Crum lifted his target to $2.50 from $2.25 on July 22 but stayed Neutral. Citigroup reiterated a Sell rating and UBS a Buy.

Ratings actions clustered tightly around the release. Zacks Research upgraded AMC to Strong Buy from Hold on July 20, Texas Capital had already moved to Strong Buy from Hold on July 15, and Weiss Ratings cut its grade further within the sell band on July 20.

Targets spanning $2.50 to $4.00 bracket an unresolved argument rather than analytical drift. Bulls point to the 650 basis point margin gain in the AMC record quarter and to no material maturities before 2029. Bears point to a diluted share count up 66.7 percent in twelve months, a net loss of $11.4 million booked even at peak operating income, and free cash flow that depends on a release slate the company does not control.

Dates and decision points into December

Sony's Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened on July 31. Boxoffice Pro projected a domestic opening weekend of $280 million to $300 million, with other trackers modeling $212 million to $255 million domestically and a worldwide start of $425 million to $465 million, which would rank as Sony's second-largest global debut behind Spider-Man: No Way Home. Aron said advance bookings pointed toward another strong result.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, distributed by Universal Pictures, delivered a media-reported $124 million domestic opening over the July 17 weekend. IMAX took $52 million of that opening weekend worldwide, 20 percent of the film's global gross and the format's largest opening ever in like-for-like markets, on the first full-length theatrical release shot entirely with IMAX film cameras. IMAX reported roughly $60 million in presales for later showtimes. AMC counted 4.3 million patrons across that weekend.

December carries the year's two heaviest releases. Warner Bros. has dated Dune: Part Three and Disney has dated Avengers: Doomsday for the week before Christmas, both cited by Aron in his forecast that 2026 will deliver the strongest post-pandemic year at the domestic and global box office.

Three balance sheet items carry into the second half: redemption of the $125.471 million of 6.125 percent notes, further conversion of exchangeable paper into equity, and the leverage-triggered rate step-down on roughly 75 percent of the debt that Aron valued at approximately $51 million a year. AMC has issued no formal guidance for the September quarter.