An unlikely pairing of films debuted at theaters this weekend, providing a much-welcome boost for movie exhibitor stocks, and in the case of
AMC Entertainment,
drawing some positive attention for more than just being a favorite of retail traders.
The two titles, Barbie and Oppenheimer—movies of the comedic and serious varieties, respectively—have created buzz across social media in recent weeks, resulting in the moniker “Barbenheimer” that translated into notable dollars at the box office.
According to IMDb Charts, Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were both released July 21, drove in $155 million and $81 million in weekend box office sales, respectively.
AMC
(ticker: AMC) shares were rising 30%, while
IMAX
(IMAX) gained 5.9%, and
Cinemark
(CNK) rose 1.2% on Monday. This year, these movie theater chain stocks have climbed 41%, 19%, and 81%, respectively. The gains suggest that an improving movie business might be better for the stocks than being memes — which is when a company’s stock jumps, and gets noticed on social media, because a barrage of retail investors are snapping up the shares.
And indeed, it seems the two films were just the ticket. AMC reported that more than 7.8 million moviegoers attended AMC theaters from Thursday to Sunday, marking the highest attendance and admissions revenue in a single weekend since 2019. Cinemark struck a similarly upbeat tone, adding that previously-released films including Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and Sound of Freedom were boosting performance as well.
IMAX Corp.
said Oppenheimer brought in $35 million on 740 screens worldwide, and the company snapped up 20% of total receipts, its biggest share ever of a film’s global opening weekend box office.
“While we always hesitate to overly promote individual outperforming weekends, we believe weekends such as this are key to not only demonstrating that postpandemic moviegoing demand remains robust, but that non-sequel titles can drive consumers out to theaters,” wrote B. Riley Securities analyst Eric Wold in a Monday report.
However, there’s a bit more behind AMC’s dramatic stock move Monday. Last week, a judge blocked the company from converting its so-called APE (APE) shares into common stock. AMC has since filed a revised stock conversion proposal in a bid to address the court’s concerns, and CEO Adam Aron said if the court is satisfied, he hopes to move ahead with the plan “as soon as possible.”
This signals the latest in the roller coaster for AMC shares, which traded as high as $44.61 in June 2021, during the meme-stock frenzy.
Write to Emily Dattilo at [email protected]
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