Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Movie theater company AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) saw shares rally on Monday, which comes in the wake of meme stocks being highly volatile last week.
Did musician Billie Eilish help AMC stock Monday?
What Happened: Last week, AMC hosted an exclusive "Listening Event" for Eilish's newly released album "Hit Me Hard and Soft." The partnership was announced during AMC's recent first-quarter financial results.
"Our Billie Eilish Listening Event was a great success. We filled seats at almost TEN TIMES the normal rate for a Thursday afternoon. Thank you Billie for sharing your great talent with your fans at AMC Theatres," AMC CEO Adam Aron tweeted.
The Eilish Listening Event comes as AMC has warned that the second quarter box office will be impacted by the Hollywood strikes of 2023.
"While the second quarter box office will continue to be affected by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, we continue to be ebullient about the upcoming film lineup in the second half of 2024 and throughout 2025," Aron said.
First quarter domestic box office of $1.61 billion was down 6.6% year-over-year for the movie theater industry, according to BoxOfficeMojo.
The second quarter, which includes April, May and June currently sits at $766.5 million around halfway through the time period, compared to $2.68 billion last year. Last year's second quarter saw "Super Mario Bros." and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" lead the way with $573.3 million and $353.6 million domestically in the quarter. There were a total of six films that hit $100 million or more in the second quarter domestically in 2023.
So far in 2024, the second quarter's top film is "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" at $114.4 million.
Upcoming releases in the quarter include "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," "The Watchers" and "Inside Out 2."
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Why It's Important: Given the likelihood that the second quarter domestic box office will be lower than last year, activities such as the listening event and growth in food and beverage sales could soften the impact or boost AMC’s results.
Eilish tweeted that tickets for the event were $5, which is lower than concert films from Beyonce and Taylor Swift. However, it gets people into the theaters where AMC could upsell the patrons with food, including in some locations new items like salads and mini donuts.
Aron said that the company was in talks with some of the "world's greatest musical artists," which could mean more listening events are coming.
"We expect that AMC will continue to break new ground and blaze new trails with the world's most talented and beloved musicians."
Earlier this year, AMC added Stephanie Terifay in the newly created role of vice president of Distribution. Terifay comes to AMC with years of experience at Fandango where she helped with partnerships and consumer awareness campaigns for movies and events.
The hiring of Terifay and the promotion of Kevin Arnold to the VP Programming Promotions & Partnership role, will likely lead to more non-movie events at AMC theaters. The move could help AMC diversify away from blockbusters and see less volatility when a quarter is facing tough comps from the prior year.
AMC Price Action: AMC shares finished 9.7% higher at $4.83 on Monday versus a 52-week trading range of $2.38 to $54.97.
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