Topline
The staggeringly successful release of Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” a Pixar animated film, helped to send four million people to AMC movie theaters over the weekend, the chain’s CEO said Monday, making the two best days of the year so far for the company—despite a disappointing start to 2024 at the box office.
A scene from "Inside Out 2."
Key Facts
More than one million people went to a movie at the chain each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a total weekend of 3.8 million, according to AMC Theatres.
Attendance on Friday marked a record for the most customers on any day so far this year, a record that was quickly broken the next day.
The weekend, which also included a strong second weekend draw for "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," was the busiest for AMC since the summer of 2023 and attendance doubled when compared to the same weekend last year, when "The Flash" and "Elemental" both disappointed.
International attendance to AMC theaters also surged and was up by double-digit percentages compared to the same weekend last year.
"Inside Out 2" grossed $155 million in its opening weekend—well ahead of its $90 million projection—and "Bad Boys," the fourth in its franchise, also had a $33 million gross, impressive for its second weekend in theaters.
"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" grossed $5.2 million over the weekend, followed by "The Garfield Movie" ($5 million) and "IF" ($3.5 million).
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Crucial Quote
“Only fools believe that movie theatres are dead, AMC CEO Adam Aron tweeted.
Surprising Fact
The attendance surge didn’t translate into a stock bump for the company. AMC’s share price was down more than 2% as of 2 p.m. Monday, trading at $4.88.
Key Background
It's been a slow year so far at the box office, which has spelled trouble for AMC and other theater operators as Hollywood still works to recover from months-long actors’ and writers’ strikes that significantly delayed film and television productions last year, and adapt to competition from streaming services. A number of films that were supposed to have premiered by this point in the year—"Deadpool 3," "Kraven the Hunter," "A Quiet Place: Day One"—had their releases pushed back for months and some, like "Captain America: Brave New World," "Snow White" and "Mission: Impossible" now won’t be released until 2025. With the exception of "Dune: Part Two," which released in March, the start of the 2024 box office resulted in flop after flop with "Madame Web," "Argylle" and "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" all failing to impress.
What To Watch For
More movies. Some of the year’s most anticipated releases are still yet to come, including "Deadpool & Wolverine" (July 26), "It Ends with Us" (Aug. 9), "Joker: Folie à Deux" (Oct. 4), "Venom 3" (Oct. 25), "Kraven the Hunter" (Dec. 13) and "Mufasa: The Lion King" (Dec. 20).
