عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

AMC Tumbles as Hollywood Strikes, Higher Expenses Hit Results

An AMC theater is pictured in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 2, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
An AMC theater is pictured in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 2, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
TT
TT

AMC Tumbles as Hollywood Strikes, Higher Expenses Hit Results

An AMC theater is pictured in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 2, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
An AMC theater is pictured in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, June 2, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

AMC Entertainment slumped nearly 8% on Thursday as the movie industry continued to reel from the impact of twin Hollywood strikes, driving the theater chain to post a larger-than-expected quarterly loss.
The writers and actors' strikes have crippled much of the industry, leading to fewer releases following the blockbuster summer successes of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer."
The delay in the release of the "Dune" sequel likely contributed to the box-office weakness last year.
AMC reported a loss of 83 cents per share for the fourth quarter, while analysts were expecting a loss of 70 cents, according to LSEG data. The impact of the strikes is expected to linger this year and weigh on earnings in 2024.
Just as adjusted core earnings in the summer of 2023 were returning to more acceptable pre-COVID levels, the movie industry was paralyzed by debilitating strikes, temporarily challenging AMC earnings in 2024, CEO Adam Aron said on a post-earnings call.
The strikes and the resulting lack of new content forced studios to try other means such as concert-based movies to pull in revenue.
"AMC's deals with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift went a long way in staunching the wounds and have opened up a lucrative revenue stream," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
However, higher distribution costs for Swift and Beyonce's concert movies were a drag on its earnings, Reuters reported.
Domestic box-office collection was down 35% for the fourth quarter, compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, and 45% for the first two months of the year, compared with 2020 levels.
For 2024, "the impact from the 6-month Hollywood work stoppage is likely to cause the overall domestic box office to decrease 7%," Roth MKM analyst Eric Handler said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".