Many were surprised when AMC Theatres signed exclusive deals with Taylor Swift and Beyonce to distribute their concert films, but they’re reaping the rewards.
AMC Theatres held an earnings call on Wednesday where CEO Adam Aron confirmed that ‘literally all’ of their revenue growth came from those two movies.
The theater chain – which also revealed new Nicole Kidman ads will start playing before movies this Friday – posted an impressive 11% jump in revenue to $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter with their EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) tripling to $45 million while narrowing their losses.
‘What is particularly noteworthy is how much AMC benefited from our trailblazing industry leading efforts with our highly successful distribution of two concert movies Taylor Swift The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce,’ Aron said.
‘Literally, all of that increase in AMC’s Revenue and EBITDA is attributable to our having shown these two movies in our theatres in the U.S. and internationally,’ Aron added.
Many were surprised when AMC Theatres signed exclusive deals with Taylor Swift and Beyonce to distribute their concert films, but they’re reaping the rewards
The theater chain – which also revealed new Nicole Kidman ads will start playing before movies this Friday – posted an impressive 11% jump in revenue to $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter with their EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) tripling to $45 million while narrowing their losses
He also noted that the box office returns overall that quarter were down, adding that Taylor Swift The Eras Tour and Rennaissance: A Film By Beyonce represented, ‘one-ninth’ of all ticket sales that quarter, which were both exclusively shown at AMC Theatres, as the CEO showered praise upon both singers and their fans.
‘This is a stunning result given that neither of these films were on anyone’s drawing board until mid-year, and that they were the first movies ever distributed by AMC in our entire 103-year history,’ Aron said.
‘To that end, our praise for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Knowles Carter has no limit, and we offer our boundless thanks to these two world class artists for entrusting AMC to collaborate with them as to the theatrical exhibition of their two masterpiece creations,’ he added.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened in mid-October (a typically stagnant time at the box office) to a whopping $93.2 million from 3,855 theaters.
It wound up grossing $180.7 million domestic and $261.6 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert film of all time.
Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce opened strong at $21.8 million in late November, but only took in $33.8 million domestic and $43.9 million worldwide.
Still, despite all of this increase in revenue, AMC Theatres still lost $182 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
It did manage to trim its losses from last year, where it lost a whopping $287.7 million in the fourth quarter.
He also noted that the box office returns overall that quarter were down, adding that Taylor Swift The Eras Tour and Rennaissance: A Film By Beyonce represented, ‘one-ninth’ of all ticket sales that quarter, which were both exclusively shown at AMC Theatres, as the CEO showered praise upon both singers and their fans
‘To that end, our praise for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Knowles Carter has no limit, and we offer our boundless thanks to these two world class artists for entrusting AMC to collaborate with them as to the theatrical exhibition of their two masterpiece creations,’ he added
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened in mid-October (a typically stagnant time at the box office) to a whopping $93.2 million from 3,855 theaters
It wound up grossing $180.7 million domestic and $261.6 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert film of all time
Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce opened strong at $21.8 million in late November, but only took in $33.8 million domestic and $43.9 million worldwide
The CEO added on the call that the whole industry was crippled again by the writers and actors strikes, with the fourth quarter down a whopping 35% industry-wide compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Still, there is hope, since, fueled by both Barbie and Oppenheimer, box office was up 6% from July 2019.
The theater chain also teased there will be more concert films coming in both 2024 and 2025, though no artists were revealed quite yet.
They also revealed on the earnings call that there will be three new Nicole Kidman ads that will play before movies starting on Friday, when Dune: Part Two hits theaters.