National Cinemedia, Inc. (NCMI)

[Harry Winston]

Record quarterly attendance at AMC movie theaters

This was posted on CinemaBlend a month ago. Some of these words were links to other pages.

Every year we hear about how movie ticket prices are going up and how attendance is going down. It seems to be part and parcel of an industry undergoing rapid change where consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to how they spend their entertainment dollars. While attendance is indeed down over the long arc of the industry, AMC Theatres says movie attendance is actually up in 2019.

For the third-quarter of the company’s fiscal year, 87.1 million tickets were sold at AMC Theatres. That number of tickets sold represents a quarterly record for the exhibition giant, reflecting an increase in attendance at its theaters around the globe. In the U.S., attendance rose to 61.7 million patrons, up from 58.9 million last year. The international market grew as well, with 26 million tickets sold versus 23.7 million last year.

Those extra tickets sold bumped admissions revenues up to $797.3 million, an increase from last year’s $751.4 million. Concession revenue was also up year over year, rising from $384.8 million to $420 million. As a result of the record number of tickets sold over the three-month stretch to September 30 and the better concession numbers, AMC Theatres’ revenue rose, thereby narrowing the company’s third-quarter loss.

According to a third quarter earnings report, AMC recorded a loss of $54.8 million in the third-quarter. That’s in contrast to the $100.4 million loss the chain recorded a year earlier. Thanks to increased attendance, AMC beat an analyst forecast and grew revenue 7.8% from $1.22 billion in 2018 to $1.31 billion this year.

National Cinemedia's fourth quarter is going to be a good one.