A lack of winter blockbusters took a bite out of AMC Theatres‘ quarterly earnings.
Losses at the world’s largest cinema operator widened to $202.1 million as the box office got off to a rough start in 2025, a period that played host to flops like “Mickey 17,” “Snow White,” and “The Alto Knights.” That was a bleaker financial picture than the one painted in the prior-year quarter when AMC’s losses hit $163.5 million. Revenues for the three-month period ending in March fell 9% to $862.5 million, compared to $951.4 million during the same three-month period in 2024. Losses per share came in at 58 cents, compared to a loss of 78 cents in the prior-year quarter.
Those were in line with Wall Street projections. Analysts expected the exhibition giant to post a first-quarter loss of 59 cents a share on revenue of $837 million, according to FactSet. Shares of AMC were down modestly in after-hours trading, trading at just below $2.70 per share.
AMC Chairman Adam Aron sounded a defensive note in a statement accompanying the results. “Anyone trying to draw any conclusions about the success or appeal of movie theaters from the results of the first quarter of 2025 is likely to be mistaken, because the industrywide domestic box office in Q1 was in our view a distorting anomaly that has already corrected itself. We continue to believe that moviegoing demand for the balance of 2025 and all of 2026 will show great strength.”
Indeed, ticket sales in the second quarter have rebounded, thanks to hits such as “Sinners,” “Minecraft” and last weekend’s “Thunderbolts*.” Moreover, the comparisons to the first quarter of 2024 were always going to be challenging, considering that sequels to popular franchises like “Dune” and “Kung Fu Panda” were released during that period. The decline in foot traffic could be seen in the drops in AMC’s admissions revenues, which tumbled 11% to $473.5 million, and concessions sales, which fell nearly 12% to $283.4 million.
Aron said that with the exception of the pandemic era, the box office results from January to March were the lowest they have been since 1996.
“If that level of activity were to continue, of course it would be highly problematic for movie theatres,” he said. “But to the contrary, since April 1, movie theatre demand has been booming. The April 2025 industry-wide domestic box office was double that of April 2024, and so far in May the box office again has been running at double the rate of a year ago. So, we believe that any negative assertions drawn from first quarter results about the movie theatre industry are likely to be wholly erroneous.”
AMC said it had cash and cash equivalents of $378.7 million.
On a conference call with analysts, Aron was talked about President Trump’s proposal for a 100% tariff on films produced in “foreign lands,” a plan that industry insiders believe would make the cost of making movies increase exponentially. There are concerns that the result would be fewer films for theaters like AMC to screen, but Aron was diplomatic.
“It is our understanding that there are no final, specific plans as to what may transpire, and that there’s going to be ample opportunity for discussion between the government and industry on this topic,” he said. “It goes without saying that we’ll be paying very close attention to developments in this area.”
