AMC Theatres Says It Has ‘Substantial Doubt’ About Its Future
It’s been pushed off the front pages in recent days by other urgent issues, but the coronavirus has not gone away. Thousands around the country are still sick, and many businesses are still shuttered — including most movie theaters. Most of the big exhibitor chains have said they hope to resume something like regular business in July, when Disney is scheduled to release Mulan and Warner Bros. hopes to premiere Christopher Nolan’ Tenet. But with much of the country still under various stay-at-home orders, there’s still a lot of doubt about that.
According to Variety, the nation’s biggest theater chain has doubt too — about its own ability to stay in business. In “public filings” this week, AMC Theatres stated it had “ ... substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time.”
This declaration came as the company announced it had lost more than $2 billion in the first quarter of 2020:
That is largely attributable to a $2 billion impairment charge related to the coronavirus shutdown. Net losses for the quarter increased to $224.5 million, up from $101.8 million in the prior-year period, while revenue fell to $941.5 million, down from $1.2 billion in the same quarter in 2019.
The company did state that they they did “believe” they would reopen its theaters later this summer. But there’ uncertainty about that as well, and they added that they “never previously experienced a complete cessation of our operations, and as a consequence, our ability to be predictive is uncertain.” AMC has already raised some $500 million in new debt during this crisis. Like they said: Substantial doubt.
Gallery — What We Miss Most About Going to Movie Theaters: