Better Hollywood box office led AMC Entertainment Holdings to higher theater attendance and revenue in the first quarter of 2026.
U.S. markets attendance was up 14 percent to 30.7 million filmgoers, against a year-earlier 27 million, while international attendance rose 12.6 percent at 16.8 million ticket buyers, against a year-ago 15 million patrons, as AMC sees a continuing roller coaster ride for Hollywood box office into 2026.
During the latest quarter, AMC Theatres played on its screens tentpoles like Project Hail Mary, compared to the year-earlier period when it relied on Disney’s Snow White and Christmas holdovers like Moana 2 and Wicked to drive box office.
That allowed the debt-laden parent of AMC Theatres in the first quarter to report overall revenues at $1.04 billion, up from a year-earlier $862.5 million. The mega-exhibitor also shrunk its net loss to $117 million, against a year-earlier $202.1 million.
As AMC rides a premium screen gold rush at the local multiplex by offering varied immersive auditoriums like Imax, Dolby Cinema, iSense, XL and laser projection-equipped screens, the question for investors is if better box office trends will impact the exhibitor’s ambition to shrink losses and boost revenues to pay down debt.
The global cinema giant in its latest financial quarter saw admissions revenue rise sharply to $578.4 million, compared to a year-earlier $473.5 million. Food and beverage revenue also rose to $347.3 million, compared $283.4 million in the same period last year.
AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron in a statement that accompanied his latest financial results predicted “significantly rising revenues” for the rest of full year 2026 as the most recent first quarter saw the North American box office jump 22 percent compared to the prior year.
“The momentum in the industry is palpable with renewed commitments by our studio partners to both increase the number of theatrical movie releases and extend theatrical windows to at least 45 days,” Aron added with a hint of his commentary to come during an after market analyst call.
