On a slow Tuesday afternoon, it’s almost scary how quiet an AMC theater is. There were a few scattered customers, teenagers working at the concession stands without much of a rush, and the faint smell of butter lingered in the hallways that used to be packed with people on the weekends. It’s not just one place in this story. A company that has spent years trying to convince people that going to the movies is still worth it is slowly losing that argument to $40-a-month streaming subscriptions.
It’s hard to change what the numbers say. In 2002, 1.57 billion tickets were sold in the U.S. That number dropped to 761 million in 2024, which is less than half. Even though some business leaders call this a “recovery,” attendance is still about 55% below its pre-pandemic highs. This issue wasn’t caused by the pandemic. After years of silent bleeding, it just ripped the bandage off a wound.
The prices haven’t helped. In 2002, the average ticket cost $5.81. Today, it costs $11.31. When concessions are added in, an AMC night out for a family of four easily costs more than $100. This is because that’s how the theater makes its money. About 85% of the profit goes to popcorn and fountain drinks. The fact that it looks like fun is probably what makes it the most profitable junk food business in the country.
We no longer believe that “experience” is a good reason. Customers can get an 85-inch 4K TV with Dolby Atmos for less than $800 and watch whatever they want, whenever they want, without having to deal with sticky floors or a stranger’s phone lighting up three rows ahead. This makes the pitch about big screens, surround sound, and shared magic less convincing. Streaming wasn’t just going up against theaters. There was a strong case that the theater was never that special to begin with.
The fact that AMC is having money problems makes this harder to handle. The company owes about $4.5 billion and had a net loss of $298 million in the third quarter alone. This was due in part to refinancing activities but also to structural pressures in the industry as a whole. For the quarter, sales were $1.3 billion, which is 4% less than the same time last year. Adjusted EBITDA dropped from $161 million the year before to $122 million. These are not the numbers of a business that can be patient with its plans.
There’s also the possibility that Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery will merge, which is a big unknown. Netflix’s $72 billion offer to buy Warner’s studios, HBO, and the Max platform is now being contested by Paramount Skydance’s aggressive $108 billion counter-offer. This has shook the industry in ways that go beyond the drama in the boardroom. If Netflix wins, AMC only has to worry about one thing: fewer blockbusters coming to theaters first, more day-and-date streaming releases, and eventually Warner Bros. movies going straight to subscribers’ phones instead of AMC theaters. That’s not just a guess. That’s always been Netflix’s main goal.
This is something new that AMC is doing. Along with regular movies, live sports events like boxing matches, UFC cards, soccer tournaments, and NFL games are now showing up on theater schedules. It’s a pivot that honestly feels a bit thrown together, and it’s still not clear if it will make a big difference. It makes sense: sports are one of the last things that real people want to watch together, in real time, with a lot of other people. The atmosphere is important. The noise is important. It’s not like a Marvel sequel in that no one can watch it on Netflix three weeks later.
There is still no word on whether moviegoers will leave their living rooms to watch a soccer game in a theater. Early events have had good turnout in some markets, but that word “decent” does a lot of work in that sentence. It’s hard to figure out how to make money licensing live sports content, and AMC doesn’t have the money to try expensive things.
Something about AMC makes you think that they are looking for a reason to exist instead of building toward one. That’s not a bad thing. This is what it looks like to stay alive when your industry changes. About 26% of the domestic market is still controlled by the company. It still gets people to see real blockbusters. A huge amount of popcorn is still sold there. However, there isn’t much room for error because of the high debt and the fact that streaming services aren’t slowing down.
