The world’s largest movie-theater company may run out of cash by year’s end if it doesn’t raise additional funds or get more people back to theaters following pandemic shutdowns that have disrupted businesses dependent on consumers gathering in public spaces, the Wall Street Journal reported. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said yesterday that it has reopened 83 percent of its U.S. theaters, but that attendance is down about 85 percent at those theaters from the year before. At the company’s current cash-burn rate, its reserves would be depleted by the end of this year or early next year, Kansas-based AMC said. In related news, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Adam Aron talked with WSJ Pro Bankruptcy about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the movie-theater industry and on his company, the sector’s largest. One of the main issues, he said, is that New York state and certain major metropolitan areas in California such as Los Angeles haven’t allowed cinemas to reopen, prompting studios to delay major releases. A spokeswoman for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said yesterday that the state is concerned about movie theaters because they involve large groups spending extended time together indoors, as well as lobby congestion when customers arrive and leave. “Movie studios cannot afford to open movies in the U.S. if they cannot also open them in New York,” Aron said. “As a result of that, the entire movie industry is waiting for New York to bless the reopening of theaters, and understandably so.” AMC yesterday warned that it could run out of cash by year’s end if it doesn’t raise additional funds or get more people back to theaters. “We’ve been going through $100 million a month, waiting for the movie industry to recover, which can only happen when New York reopens,” Aron said.
Struggling financially? Please contact our office at 816-524-4949 or you can visit our website at hoorfarlaw.com to schedule an appointment.