Memestock favourite AMC hails record weekend since reopening

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) reported that last weekend was a record in terms of audience numbers since reopening its doors following the pandemic lockdown.

In an announcement on Tuesday afternoon, the cinema chain reported that between June 24 and June 27, 2mln people in the US had watched films at its locations, the biggest numbers recorded by the firm since closing its branches in March 2020 due to restrictions.

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The firm partly credited the upsurge in demand to the opening of the latest entrant into the Fast & Furious movie franchise, F9: The Fast Saga, which is estimated to have opened at around US$70mln over the weekend, the biggest opening weekend for any move in the US since late 2019.

AMC added that six of the top 10 busiest cinemas in the US during the period were part of the company’s estate, adding that it had also seen a post-reopening record outside the US as over 500,000 people visited its theatres in Europe and the Middle East, bringing its total global attendance over the past weekend to 2.5mln.

“The big screen is back! Some 2 million people came out to enjoy movies at an AMC theatre in the US over the past four days. And counting our international theatres, too, we had more than 2.5 million guests. At AMC, we salute our friends and partners at Universal Pictures following their post-reopening record-setting performance of F9: The Fast Saga“, AMC president and chief executive Adam Aron said in a statement.

“The combination of widespread vaccination and the release once again of blockbuster movies is proving to be the magic formula for the return of moviegoing. We could not be more excited about this post-reopening record weekend, and the coming slate of what look to be more blockbuster movies being released this summer and beyond”, he added.

AMC is a favoured stock among the retail trading community of the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets, who sparked a buying frenzy in the stock earlier this year that sent share price to an all-time high of US$62.55 in early June.

The retail buyers seemed to have taken encouragement from the latest numbers, with shares in AMC ending Tuesday’s session on Wall Street up 7.5% at US$58.11.

Story by ProactiveInvestors