Popcorn buckets are pictured in the course of the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” live performance film world premiere at AMC The Grove in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2023.
Valerie Macon | AFP | Getty Photos
Transfer over, Nicole Kidman. AMC has some new patron saints.
Within the closing three months of 2023, AMC noticed income enhance 12%, and working revenue by one measure almost triple, in contrast with the identical interval a yr earlier than. “Actually all” that progress was tied to live performance movies from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, AMC CEO Adam Aron advised analysts Wednesday.
“These two films added drastically, not solely to AMC’s backside line, however to movie show success throughout our total {industry},” Aron stated on the movie show chain’s fourth-quarter earnings name. “Simply these two movies represented absolutely one-ninth of the entire fourth-quarter, home, industry-wide field workplace.”
AMC was behind “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Movie by Beyoncé,” the primary film distributions within the firm’s 103-year-old historical past. These tasks, each launched within the closing quarter of 2023, got here close to the top of a yr culturally outlined by the 2 pop stars’ excursions.
U.S. market share for AMC, based mostly outdoors Kansas Metropolis, expanded on account of the 2 films, Aron stated. Within the fourth quarter, AMC’s home field workplace receipts from the 2 releases alone beat out the distribution totals from most main studios, excluding Disney, he stated.
Now, AMC’s telephones are “ringing off the hook” as different artists look to the corporate to distribute filmed variations of their concert events in theaters in 2024 and 2025, he stated.
“This can be a gorgeous end result, provided that neither of those movies have been on anybody’s drafting board till midyear, and that they have been the primary films ever distributed by AMC,” stated Aron. “What a triumph for our firm. To that finish, it’s no shock that our reward for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has no restrict.”
A cultural and financial pressure
It is little shock that the 2 divas boosted AMC’s financials within the fourth quarter. Swift’s enterprise alone grossed greater than $200 million, making it the highest-grossing documentary or live performance movie of all time, by AMC’s depend.
Followers got here out in droves final yr to the see the worldwide music superpowers in stadiums throughout the U.S. The excursions have been notable for excessive ticket resale costs as customers proved keen to splash out for what was dubbed the “funflation” development, and attendees’ outfits that matched the aesthetic of every star, together with friendship bracelets and black fedoras.
The financial impact of those occasions caught the eye of Wall Road and even the Federal Reserve. Whereas some questioned the true affect on nationwide financial knowledge, others cited a clear profit to tourism in cities the place the excursions stopped.
(L) Taylor Swift performs onstage throughout her The Eras Tour at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 30, 2023. (R) Beyoncé performs onstage throughout her Renaissance World Tour on the Johan Cruyff Area in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on June 17, 2023.
Getty Photos
AMC wasn’t the one firm reporting a lift from the concert events and movies this earnings season.
Competitor Cinemark stated common ticket costs elevated 2% and home concession stand income grew 8% in contrast with the identical quarter a yr in the past. Chief Monetary Officer Melissa Hayes Thomas credited that bump to Swift’s film and associated merchandise, in addition to to strategic pricing initiatives.
Trip-share platform Lyft stated it noticed a 35% soar in rides to stadiums in 2023 in contrast with the yr earlier than. Lyft particularly talked about Swift and Beyoncé concert events as key drivers, along with sporting occasions.
Disney drew consideration after CEO Bob Iger introduced on its earnings name earlier this month that the film studio’s streaming platform would solely home an prolonged model of Swift’s tour. “Taylor’s Model” of the movie, referring to her re-recorded albums, hits Disney+ on March 15.
“Over the previous yr, we have all witnessed the inventive genius and sheer energy of a real cultural phenomenon, Taylor Swift,” Iger stated on the decision. Audiences are keen “to relive the electrifying ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Model)’ at any time when they need on Disney+.”
Meme inventory efficiency
AMC nonetheless acknowledged challenges in 2023 tied to the actors and writers strikes that introduced Hollywood to a halt at midyear and pushed again film releases.
AMC, 1-day inventory
The corporate reported larger income than analysts polled by LSEG, previously Refinitiv, anticipated within the newest quarter. Nevertheless it additionally posted a bigger loss in earnings per share than Wall Road forecast.
Shares of AMC, as soon as a risky “meme” inventory that captured the curiosity of retail merchants in the course of the pandemic in 2021, tumbled greater than 14% in afternoon buying and selling on Thursday. The inventory is down greater than 28% so far in 2024.
AMC additionally introduced it will air new, shorter ads with Kidman, the actress whose first marketing campaign for the chain turned a cult basic. Quite than displaying the identical 60-second spot earlier than every displaying, audiences will as an alternative see considered one of three totally different 30-second commercials starring the Australian-American actor starting in March.
— CNBC’s Robert Hum contributed to this report.
Do not miss these tales from CNBC PRO:
