The world’s biggest theater chain AMC Entertainment saw its shares surge as it posted the highest quarterly revenue in its 106-year history for the three months ended in June and just cleaned up this weekend with the massive opening of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Revenue rose 14% from 2025 second quarter to near $1.6 billion and AMC ‘s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) surged 70% to a record $321 million. Net cash from operations rose to $235 million from $138 million. The health of the quarter was also due in large part to the chain keeping costs in check.
“While there’s still more work to do here, this was a source of hope,” wrote analyst Drew Crumb of B. Riley Securities of the latest numbers.
The exhibitor generated $190 million in free cash flow and ended the quarter with $778 million of cash and cash equivalents.
A net loss of $11.4 million compared with $4.7. million.
U.S and Europe both showed great progress, said CEO Adam Aron, noting that the company, “has often been underestimated.”
That’s due to severe financial straits during Covid followed by a dual strike by writers and actors which hit the entire exhibition industry but was magnified in AMC’s case by its large debt load. Many in the industry and on Wall Street betting for years that a Chapter 11 filing was just around the corner.
Aron noted that during the second quarter, AMC refinanced $400 million of debt, extending maturity by four years; raised about $285 million through equity offerings; and started paring down some $282 million of debt. By the end of July, he said actions to strengthen the balance sheet since the end of 2020 will have reduced principal debt balances by circa $1.7 billion, with no currently expected debt maturities until 2029.
The box office has also cooperated as it started to regain its footing this year. This past weekend saw Universal epic The Odyssey opening to $264 million globally. Some 4.3 million people turned out to AMC and Odeon theaters Thursday to Sunday, Aron said on a call after the numbers.
Total attendance rose 13.5% in the quarter from the year earlier (up 12% domestic, 18% international. Average screen count of 9,249 was down slightly from 9,402.
Shares surged more than 20% early Monday after the earnings report. The one-time meme stock has struggled, bouncing from under a buck at its low to over $3 for its high in the last 52-weeks.
Food, beverage and merchandise sales rose 15% globally.