AMC Theaters has revealed some minor details about how it plans to reopen its business and avoid bankruptcy.
- AMC Entertainment’s shares jumped 37% as the company announced it would have a $500 million debt sale, Deadline reports.
- The White House announced Thursday a plan to reopen U.S. businesses, including movie theaters.
AMC Theaters closed its doors in March due to the coronavirus pandemic after first limiting how many people could sit in the theater at one time.
- The company shut all 630 locations with 11,000 screens going dark, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- AMC CEO Adam Aron in a statement: “We are ever so disappointed for our moviegoing guests and for our employee teams that the new CDC guidelines that Americans should not gather in groups larger than 10 people make it impossible to open our theaters. Still, the health and well-being of AMC guests and employees, and of all Americans, takes precedence above all else.”
But President Donald Trump announced Thursday that movie theaters would be included in an initial phase of reopening businesses in the U.S.
- Trump said: “I think we’re going to have a lot of states open relatively soon. I don’t want anyone coming back who isn’t in position to come back.”
- This sparked renewed interest in trading for AMC Theaters.
- AMC’s Aron said he expects theaters could reopen in June, kicking off a strong summer of blockbusters and films.
- According to Deadline, “Exactly what the theatrical landscape looks like as the U.S. emerges from virus lockdown is anyone’s guess.”