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AMC’s stock skyrocketed on Monday after the company announced it had raised enough funding to remain open and operational well into 2021.
“This means that any discussion of impending bankruptcy for AMC is completely off the table,” said CEO Adam Aron.
Since Dec. 14, the world’s largest movie theater chain has raised $ 917 million in new equity and debt, the company revealed in an SEC filing Monday.
About $ 500 million of this fundraising came from the issuance of new common stock and an investment agreement with Mudrick Capital Management. The company has also executed pledge letters for $ 411 million in incremental debt from expanding and refinancing its European revolving credit facility.
The company’s shares were up more than 35% in premarket trading. The stock is down 48% in the past year, bringing its market value to $ 564 million.
“Looking ahead, if the AMC is to succeed in the medium term, we will need a large portion of the general public in the US and beyond to be vaccinated,” Aron said. “We welcome the commitment of the new Biden government and other governments at home and abroad to a comprehensive vaccination program.”
Movie theaters have been badly affected by the pandemic. First they were closed due to running business and when they reopened moviegoers were reluctant to return. Cinemas are hoping that an influx of new content from Hollywood, declining Covid-19 cases and an increase in vaccinations will give consumers the confidence to return.
About 21 million vaccines have been administered to date. However, the US still records at least 170,000 new Covid-19 cases and at least 3,080 virus-related deaths every day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University.
Last week there was a lot of film delays. The latest James Bond movie, MGM’s “No Time to Die,” was pushed from April to October, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” was moved to November, and Sony’s “Morbius” and “Uncharted” were launched in 2022.
Disney also shifted half a dozen movies later in the year, including “The King’s Man,” or removed them from the calendar entirely.
The few films remaining in February and March are linked to streaming releases. Warner Bros. “Tom and Jerry” hits HBO Max and theaters on February 26, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” debuts in theaters and on Disney + for $ 30 on March 5, and Warner Bros. “Godzilla v. Kong” will be released on HBO Max and in theaters on March 26.