AMC Announces Record-Breaking Memorial Day Numbers, Thanks to 'Lilo & Stitch'
Ticket and concession sales from Thursday through Monday set a record for the best Memorial Day weekend in AMC Entertainment history, the cinema chain said.
The movie theater operator credited Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning with bringing in crowds.
Shares of AMC and Disney rose Tuesday morning as investors absorbed box office numbers.It was a blockbuster weekend for AMC Entertainment (AMC).
AMC had the most lucrative Memorial Day weekend in its history, setting records for admissions income, food and beverage sales, and total revenue at U.S. theaters, the movie theater operator said. AMC credited the releases of Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning with drawing crowds, bolstering shares of AMC along with the hits' respective producers, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) and Paramount Global (PARA).
AMC hasn't had as many people visit its domestic theaters over Memorial Day weekend since 2013, the company said. Americans spent a total of $326.7 million on tickets with various movie theater operators over the holiday weekend, topping the $314.3 million record from 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported.
'Finally it would appear that our industry has turned a corner. Since early April, weekend after weekend, moviegoers have been demonstrating their preference for theatrical moviegoing,' AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a press release. "We firmly expect to be enjoying a robust theatrical box office as we look ahead.'
Shares of AMC were recently up 9%, but have fallen about 11% so far this year.
Lilo & Stitch, a live-action remake of a movie about a Hawaiian family's adoption of an alien, grossed $183 million in domestic ticket sales from Friday through Monday, according to Comscore, a firm that measures media consumption and audiences. Shares of Disney, its producer, ticked up nearly 2%.
Paramount's Mission Impossible action movie sold $77.5 million in tickets over the four-day period, according to Comscore. Paramount stock crept up less than 1%.
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