Best superhero in a supporting role... goes to Avengers: Endgame. Pre-sale tickets for the roughly 712th edition of the Marvel movie series immediately broke records. That's why a research analyst upgraded shares of AMC Entertainment, and they jumped 9% on the report.
Don't care about IMAX or 3D-printed massage recliner seats... Your Snacks team ID'd three trends that explain why movie theaters are still a growing business:
- International: AMC's got a deal to bring movies to Saudi Arabia for the first time. And China's expected to become the world's biggest movie market soon.
- Remakes, reboots, & blockbusters: Global hunger for spandex'd superhumans is insatiable. Aladdin, Lion King, and Pikachu are joining this year's summer movie lineup, too.
- Subscriptions: MoviePass brought subscriptions to movies, but AMC's running with it — Its copycat "Stubs A-List" program ($24/month for 3 movies/week) has 19M members now.
International growth > Domestic problems... With Netflix standing by, it's easy to decline Saturday's expensive $50 movie-out-for-two. North American box office sales barely budged over the past decade (just up ~1% per year). But AMC's tapping into a still growing industry: Exporting American-style movie theaters abroad for American-style movies.