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Of all the great cinematic narrative arcs, there’s something special about the comeback. Think “Rocky,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Natural.” A much-maligned or doubted hero rises and triumphs against all the odds.
Goosebumps, every time.
The comeback saga rings ever so true for those in the movie theater industry, and for those millions of moviegoers who love to watch dazzling images on the huge silver screens of theaters. Six seemingly long and sometimes brutal years ago, COVID hit the theatrical distribution business with what many predicted would be a fatal blow. Conventional wisdom callously had it that audiences might never return, especially after the pandemic in 2020 was followed in short order in 2023 by two prolonged industrywide strikes. The result of both was a much thinned-out movie release calendar that for several years hit
theater operators hard.
AMC Theatres in the U.S, and our Odeon Cinemas in Europe, are together the world’s largest movie theater operator. We never believed that moviegoing in theaters was an anachronistic relic of some bygone era. Despite an admittedly painful lull in the box office, our confidence in our future and our resolve to get through crisis was never in doubt. As our friend and champion Nicole Kidman has been telling one and all: “We come to this place for magic” and at AMC we know above all else that magic doesn’t ever go out of style.
Comebacks, however, do require hard work. AMC did our part, making our company more efficient, finding new sources of revenue and since 2020 investing more than a billion dollars into maintaining and enhancing our fleet of theaters. Our reinvestments within our world included AMC providing to our guests more premium screens, brighter laser projection, more comfortable and more spacious seating, an increased commitment to booming sound systems, and more ambitious food and beverage offerings.
But the comfiest recliners in the world aren’t worth what they’re made of if there aren’t incredible and worthy films to be showcased on our giant screens. And that’s where in 2026 the real comeback has started to happen. Universal and Illumination lit up the screen with “Super Mario.” Lionsgate displayed for all to see the genius and eccentricity of “Michael.” Disney’s 20th Century label harkened back to a beloved tale in which a Devil Wears Prada. Directed by a 20-year-old filmmaker, “Backrooms” became A24’s highest-ever grossing film. In Amazon’s biggest project yet after acquiring MGM, “Project Hail Mary” instantly established itself as a global phenomenon. As I write this, Christopher Nolan’s “The
Odyssey” is racing toward $1 billion worldwide — a blockbuster based on a 2,700-year-old poem. And likely the biggest movie of the year so far, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is set to engage and delight audiences in enormous numbers.
Happily, this comeback tale is proving itself out before our very eyes. In the second quarter of 2026, AMC Entertainment just reported our highest ever revenues and our largest ever Adjusted EBITDA in our company’s entire 106-year history. I repeat for fans of a comeback, this was AMC’s most successful quarter ever.
Looking forward, there is yet another milestone that suggests better times are immediately ahead for those who adore “the movies.” The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger is poised to create a powerful combined company, one that will have the scale and the passion to deliver even more such films to theater screens the world over. It’s a move that is feared by some, but in our strongly held view, this instead is a step forward that should be welcomed and celebrated. Perhaps that’s why Paramount’s action to strengthen itself has already been cleared by competition authorities and regulators in the United States, Europe and throughout the world, as of this writing in some 65 countries
globally already.
It’s critical to the industry’s future that this transaction be completed as soon as possible, so that we all can build on the momentum that finally — after six tough years — only recently has been established. For that to happen, though, the legal challenge from a group of possibly well-intentioned state Attorneys General must be overcome.
The domestic box office just had its strongest quarter in seven years, growing a satisfying 11% from a year ago. Indeed, guests in all age groups flocked to movie theaters. Perhaps most encouraging is who is leading the way. Some 87% of Gen Z saw a movie in a theater over the past year, the highest percentage of any generation. As it turns out, young people who supposedly were to be lost forever to TikTok now instead have been turning moviegoing in theaters into a social event. History repeats itself, they are doing exactly as their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents have done continuously for more than a century.
But this resurgence can only continue if we have a steady supply of great movies, marketed well and given enough time in theaters to become cultural events. That’s not a given, and it won’t happen just because there may have been a few strong quarters along the way. By our sadly precise estimate, the number of theatrically released films from major Hollywood studios has fallen in recent years since COVID and the strikes. Simply put, movie theater operators have needed more movies entering into our ecosystem.
As important as the movie count itself also is the length of time that movies stay exclusively in theaters. Since COVID hit, studio after studio experimented with rushing to take movies to the home. Ironically, in what several key movie-making legends have decried and lamented as a self-destructive move, Hollywood has been training the audience not to head out to theaters, but instead to wait patiently at home. In doing so, they deprived us all of precious communal viewing. As always has been the case,
seemingly forever, when you watch a movie with others the laughs get louder, the action seems more intense, the tears flow more quickly. To quote the best one-liner synopsis that AMC ever has had written, “Sometimes heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” Taking this all together, that is why the future of the companies making movies matters so much to us.
Traditional movie studios and independent filmmakers are no longer competing only with one another, but also with enormous technology companies, who can treat filmed entertainment as one product line inside a much larger subscription, advertising, hardware or e-commerce machine. Those tech companies can and often do produce great films, and some of them have demonstrated a willingness to support theatrical releases, which we at AMC both greatly appreciate and eagerly embrace. Indeed, we intend to sell more tickets for them in theaters than does anyone else on earth! But their commitment to theatrical release is likely to endure and increase only if they feel real competitive pressure, not just on their streaming platforms, but also from movie companies who are pushing them to fight for cultural and commercial relevance in the multiplex.
That kind of intense competition won’t happen if companies like Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are forced to struggle along as subscale competitors, which is exactly what will happen in our view if their merger is blocked.
The AG’s lawsuit argues, in part, that this merger needs to be prevented to protect companies like mine. Well thanks, but no thanks. Their complaint simply gets the economics of our business backwards.
AMC licenses films one by one and theater by theater. Every week, we decide what to show, on how many screens and for how long. We negotiate revenue splits and other terms with every major distributor. We are not naive about bargaining power, and we do not give ours away. Over and over again, AMC has chosen not to play a movie if we are unsuccessful in negotiating film terms that we think are fair and reasonable both to the filmmaker along with their studio distributors as well as to ourselves as an exhibitor. We have every confidence in our own ability to stand up and to defend our commercial
interests.
But even with that said, a weak slate is a much greater threat to us than a strong studio. More movies mean more ticket sales. A commitment to observe a respectable theatrical window draws bigger audiences to theaters. And better movies that are marketed well are icing on this cake. It all generates more moviegoers, which translates in turn to more delicious popcorn being consumed and more energy being very much in evidence throughout a theater. By stark contrast, a sparse movie slate leaves seats empty, no matter what the percentage splits of the box office may be negotiated among the relevant
parties.
David Ellison and multiple executives on his team have said publicly, and committed to me personally, that a combined Paramount and Warner Bros. will release at least 30 films theatrically each year, each with a minimum 45-day premium video-on-demand and a minimum 90-day subscription video-on-demand exclusive theatrical window. These are specific and measurable commitments addressing the two things that movie theater operators need most: more movies and enough time to turn them into events. If the AGs are truly concerned about the future of theaters, they should focus on holding the new
company accountable for delivering on these promises. At AMC, we surely intend to do so.
The good news is that we don’t need to just take David Ellison’s word for it. There’s a real track record here. Paramount released only eight films last year. After Ellison’s Skydance took control, it put the studio on track to release 15 movies this year in 2026, and similarly increased the number of movies being green-lit for future release. Not just any old movies either, I might add. David Ellison has already demonstrated that he is a consummate movie executive, having made commercially pleasing films that have entertained the entire world. “Top Gun: Maverick,” multiple films in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, and “Air” are just some of his recent titles.
What’s more, Paramount has already put into action its promise to respect longer theatrical windows. It could have waited to create a future bargaining chip with regulators, but to its eternal credit, it did not play games. Paramount already gave theater operators exactly what we need on this all-important front, and it did it right now.
Competition should be measured not only by the number of logos on studio gates, but by what actually reaches America’s screens and those in cinemas all around the world. Theater audiences are telling us exactly what they want: more movies, movies exclusively shown in theaters and better movies. That’s the foundation of the nascent comeback of the theatrical ecosystem. We all need to nurture it, not starve it.
Approving this Paramount Warner deal — letting a combined company get about the business of producing huge numbers of great films — is a big step in the right direction. This is precisely why AMC Entertainment, the largest movie theater chain on the planet, is a full-throated supporter of doing so.
