For those who love buttered popcorn and Milk Duds in front of the big screen, Memorial Day weekend was a good weekend. It also was good for AMC Entertainment (AMC), which operates 10,000 screens in 900 theaters across the globe.
AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron heralded the weekend as a turning point.
“Finally it would appear that our industry has turned a corner. Since early April, weekend after weekend, moviegoers have been demonstrating their preference for theatrical moviegoing,” Aron said in a press release, adding that a record-setting Memorial Day holiday is yet another sign of the continued strength and relevance of moviegoing in 2025.
“With many more potentially huge movies coming in June all the way through the end of 2025, and beyond that deeply into 2026 as well, we firmly expect to be enjoying a robust theatrical box office as we look ahead,” Aron said.
AMC shareholders celebrated the strong weekend by sending shares up over 20% by midday Tuesday.
In an interview with Vulture, Comscore (SCOR) senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian called this summer’s cinematic offerings robust. “Unlike last year, which was completely discombobulated by the strike and the resultant disruptions, this is a kick-ass summer. I think we’re definitely headed for $4 billion. The only issue might be that there are too many good films. It’s going to be like a box-office traffic jam!”
AMC also said it counted a record number of guests in its theaters, both in the United States and globally.
All told, more than 7 million moviegoers visited an AMC in the United States or an ODEON (an AMC brand) Cinemas location internationally from Thursday through Monday.
Not to be outdone, Cinemark (CNK) also raked in the customers — and the cash — over the busy Memorial Day weekend, which featured movies like the Lilo and Stitch premiere and the latest in the Mission Impossible franchise.
“The immersive, cinematic experience was firing on all cylinders over this long Memorial Day weekend as moviegoers sought out theaters for the highly anticipated premieres of “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” as well as solid performances from carryover films,” said Sean Gamble, the president and chief executive officer of Cinemark. “Cinemark delivered a remarkable over-performance, breaking numerous records across box office and concession revenues,” he added.
New York City-based film critic and founder of Pop Culture Planet Kristen Maldonado hailed the weekend also, but with some caveats.
“While this record-setting Memorial Day weekend is a huge win, audiences are really returning to theaters for the rare family movie or must-see spectacles,” Maldonado told Quartz.
“With so few family-friendly options in theaters, it makes sense for the live-action ‘Lilo & Stitch’ to perform well — just like ‘Moana 2’ grossed over $1 billion dollars in the box office,” Maldonado said.
She added that Tom Cruise was the only actor able to get people back into theaters after the pandemic with “Top Gun: Maverick,” and now, she says, fans are turning out for “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”
“This is really a testament to his movie stardom still commanding the big screen,” Maldonado said. And despite the success and staying power of theaters, she added that streaming has changed the way moviegoers choose what to see in theaters.
“Viewers on the whole are more selective now about going to theaters. They have the convenience of streaming at home and theatrical windows are much shorter than they used to be,” Moldonado said, adding that people are now focused on more eventized moviegoing, waiting for big spectacles like Barbenheimer, “A Minecraft Movie,” and “Wicked” — “or incredible word of mouth like ‘Sinners,’” she said.