“Avatar: Fire & Ash,” “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” may have dominated the holiday box office, but they weren’t enough to lift AMC Theatres‘ quarterly earnings. The world’s largest exhibitor reported that revenues for the three-month period ending in December topped out at $1.28 billion, down 1.4% from the $1.3 billion it recorded a year earlier. More troubling, attendance dropped nearly 10% as the collection of year-end blockbusters failed to pack ’em in at the same rate. AMC hosted 56.3 million patrons compared to the 62.4 million it welcomed in the year-ago period.
Losses did shrink for AMC. The company’s net loss was $127.4 million, compared to the $135.6 million in losses from a year earlier. It logged a diluted loss per-share of 25 cents, having reported a loss of 35 cents in the prior-year quarter.
AMC’s food and beverage revenue hit $436.5 million, down slightly from the $446.2 million in concessions it sold in the same period in 2024. Admissions revenue came in at $701.6 million, a drop from the $721.4 million in ticket sales that AMC rang up in the year-ago quarter.
During the quarter, AMC, which remains heavily leveraged, converted the majority of its equity investment in Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation, a gold and silver exploration company, into approximately $24.1 million in cash. It said the amount was “approximately equal” to the capital it initially invested in the transferred securities.
AMC hosts its earnings call for investors and analysts on Tuesday. Adam Aron, its CEO, released a statement to accompany the earnings report in which he predicted that 2026’s lineup of potential blockbusters, which includes Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Avengers: Doomsday,” will outgross the roster of 2025 hits.
“AMC is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on a recovering box office,” Aron said. “And as I have said many times before, the not-so-secret formula to a full box‑office recovery is straight forward, we need more great movies from our studio partners.”