Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. rose Monday, as did the stocks of other movie-theater operators, after a strong Easter weekend box office highlighted by the success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” gave investors reason to cheer.
Also helping boost sentiment were a strong weekend debut by Amazon Studio’s “Air” and the announcement by Walt Disney Co.’s
DIS,
Lucasfilm on Friday of three new live-action “Star Wars” films, although release dates weren’t revealed.
AMC’s
AMC,
stock surged 8.4% toward a one-month high in afternoon trading after the company said, “It’s a ‘SUPER’ Easter Weekend For AMC Theaters in the United States.” The stock has soared 35.8% amid a three-day winning streak that started after it closed at a three-month low of $3.91 on April 4.
Comcast Corp.’s
CMCSA,
Universal Pictures’ and Illumination’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie” movie took in $146.36 million over Easter weekend in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo, enough to make it the biggest opening so far this year. It took in $204.63 million in the five days since it opened last Wednesday.
“That easily exceeded its lofty box office projections, which anticipated that the family film would collect about $140 million,” Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey wrote in a note to clients.
AMC said its U.S. theaters set an attendance record for an Easter weekend, with 3.6 million moviegoers over the past three days. And AMC enjoyed two of its top three revenue days since its theaters reopened in the summer of 2020 after being shut down by the pandemic, with Saturday marking the highest revenue day since the reopening.
Besides “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Air,” the company said the box office was bolstered by “strong holdovers” from “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
Combined with food and beverage revenue, the company reported an “all-time high” for revenue during an Easter weekend.
“The success of ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘ is yet another shining example of the desire by U.S. moviegoers to come to the movie theatre to be entertained,” said AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron.
Meanwhile, shares of fellow movie-theater operator Cinemark Holdings Inc.
CNK,
climbed 6.7%, toward their highest close since August 2022.
The company said that on April 8, it recorded the highest single day of attendance since Christmas Day of 2019, and that for the first few months of this year box-office performance has been “catapulted” beyond expectations.
Cinemark Chief Executive Sean Gamble said that “2023 moviegoing is off to an exceptional start, and we are thrilled for consumers to experience a growing volume of highly anticipated films over the coming months.”
Imax Corp.’s
IMAX,
stock jumped 3.2%, putting it on track for the highest close since March 2022.
With the “Super Mario” movie bringing in $16.6 million in North America, that was the biggest Imax opening weekend ever for an animated film and marked the top animated debut in 22 international markets.
“Illumination and Universal did an excellent job launching this new franchise, building on the great momentum we’re seeing at the global box office as a very promising summer blockbuster season approaches,” said Imax Chief Executive Rich Gelfond.
With first-quarter domestic box office exceeding projections, analyst Eric Wold at B. Riley reiterated his buy rating on Cinemark’s stock and raised his price target to $20 from $15. Wold also kept his buy rating on Imax and lifted his stock-price target to $26 from $23, and he maintained his neutral rating and $4.50 price target on AMC’s stock.
AMC shares have rallied 30.5% year to date, Cinemark’s stock has soared 87.5% and Imax shares have run up 39.5%, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has tacked on 6.7%.
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