What happened
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC 3.96%), the reigning king of movie theater operators, was treated like royalty by investors on Tuesday. On the back of quite an encouraging update from the company, they pushed its stock price up by nearly 4% on a down day for the S&P 500 index.
So what
After market close on Monday, AMC published a fresh update on moviegoer traffic to its theaters. The company said in a press release that last weekend's ticket revenue was up 15% from the same weekend in 2019. That's impressive as the latter was in the "before times," i.e., prior to the coronavirus sweeping across the world.
In terms of foot traffic, over 4.9 million movie buffs trekked to an AMC theater to watch a film last weekend. We are now getting into the thick of the summer blockbuster season, an always-critical period for both film producers and exhibitors.
AMC is benefiting from a strong one-two punch at the box office. The latest installment in the storied runaway dinosaurs franchise, Jurassic World Dominion, opened that weekend to total gross receipts of over $145 million in the U.S., making it the No. 1 film for the period.
The clear No. 2 was the durable popcorn war movie Top Gun: Maverick. In its third week of release, it continues to draw an audience and grossed nearly $52 million over the weekend.
Now what
AMC didn't hesitate to point out -- accurately -- that Hollywood's release schedule in the coming weeks is quite compelling. Walt Disney's latest Pixar animated film, space saga Lightyear, beams down this weekend. The splashy, expensive biopic Elvis follows later this month, as does the latest tale of everyone's favorite Norse god superhero, Thor: Love and Thunder.
