A public financial filing from AMC Theatres on Wednesday seems to spell trouble for the well-known company. With over 905 theaters and 11,000 screens throughout the US and Europe, one might think the world’s largest cinema chain could easily survive a few months of hardship, but it appears that things are actually looking pretty grim.
The filings report severe losses and serious drops in revenue for the first quarter of 2020. Considering the company has been shut down throughout the past three months, things are only looking worse and worse for them and has led them to feel “substantial doubt” about their viability if they’re unable to reopen their doors very soon.
The statement from AMC Theatres reads as so:
If we do not recommence operations within our estimated timeline, we will require additional capital and may also require additional financing if, for example, our operations do not generate the expected revenues or a recurrence of COVID-19 were to cause another suspension of operations. Such additional financing may not be available on favorable terms or at all. Due to these factors, substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time.
AMC Theatres was forced to close their doors to the public during global shutdowns that started in March due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Worries about the company’s viability throughout the pandemic aren’t anything new, as plenty of analysts have voiced that the chain would be facing an uphill battle to survive the extended shutdowns. There were fairly believable indications last month that Amazon could buy the company out, which would effectively save them from bankruptcy, but there’s been little news on that front since.
Hurting AMC Theatres even further is their ongoing feud with Universal after the latter chose to send their children’s film Trolls: World Tour straight to video-on-demand services rather than wait for theaters to reopen globally. The company has since stated that they would discontinue showing Universal movies at their chain, meaning they would miss out on massive box office gains from films like Fast & Furious 9, the James Bond flick No Time to Die and Jurassic World: Dominion. However, whether they’d actually be allowed to ban Universal movies is a different story entirely.