AMC Entertainment CEO Expects Box Office To 'Nearly Double' In 2022

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC traded relatively flat Wednesday, despite the company showing increasing revenue and narrowing losses.

Analysts have been anticipating declines in the movie theater industry as consumers turn to streaming platforms, but AMC CEO Adam Aron has heard it all before.

"Actually, what I said was 'a load of cow dung,'" Aron clarified Wednesday on CNBC's "Closing Bell."

"I thought I cleaned that up pretty nicely," he joked: "You should've seen the first draft."

In all seriousness, Aron strongly disagrees with broader criticisms. People expected radio and TV to put the company out of business, then VCRs and DVDs, he explained. People thought AMC was going to file for bankruptcy in 2020 and now they expect streaming to be the company's downfall, he added.

"Guess what, in the fourth quarter of 2021 ... 60 million people went to our theaters," Aron stressed. Attendance remained below pre-pandemic levels, but revenue per patron grew by 25%, he added.

Now the AMC CEO expects the box office to "nearly double" in 2022, led by "The Batman" release this week. So maybe streaming won't be the bane of AMC?

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Aron doesn't expect revenue to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, but it's likely in 2023, he said, adding that the AMC of the future will not look like the AMC of the past, as the company seeks to diversify revenue streams.

"I think AMC has proven in the last two years that we can rise to the challenges before us and startle and dazzle with the innovation and advances we are making," Aron said. "That's the bet I'm making. After all, I'm a big shareholder in AMC myself."

AMC Price Action: AMC Entertainment has traded as low as $7.50 and as high as $72.62 over a 52-week period.

The stock closed Wednesday up 1.15% at $18.53.

Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim from Flickr.