Unsplash/Felix Mooneeram
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Get your (overpriced) popcorn and ice cream of the future ready…
AMC, the world’s largest movie theater, issued a filing to the SEC yesterday with concerns that it might not have enough cash to stay in operation this year after shuttering its 661 US theaters due to coronavirus.
The preferred venue of middle-schoolers experiencing their first OTPHJ secured some debt back in Apri, that it thought would last until Thanksgiving, but disclosed some new liquidity concerns as theaters have been closed for roughly two and a half months. So that was a f*cking lie. The company had $718M on hand as of April 30, according to the filing.
Sneak peek
The docs also included a preview of Q1 earnings and let’s just say, “you should save yourself the price of admission.” AMC expects to post a loss between $2.1 to $2.4B for the three-month period ended March 31, and revenue for the quarter was $945M, down from $1.2B for the same period one-year prior.
Fun fact: those abysmal results only represent a two-week shutdown at the end of March. Q2 is going to be even worse as the theater is “generating effectively, no revenue.” Their words, not mine.
Even worse, Universal’s successful release of “Trolls World Tour” straight to streaming could be a sign that moviemakers aren’t in a rush to get back into theaters.
Despite the horror-movie ahead, AMC’s stock actually rose 5% on the announcement. Investors were stoked to hear about the 12% interest rate it secured on its debt. No, seriously.
The bottom line…
But it isn’t just the big screen that’s taking a beating…
The small (like… really small) screen isn’t fairing much better. Quibi, the ten-minute-or-less, mobile-first streaming platform appears to be on life-support.
The new streaming service asked its executives to take a 10% pay cut yesterday, as the company has struggled to gain footing in the oversaturated streaming market. Like HBO Max (formerly: Now, Go), Netflix, Hulu…do we need to go on?
💧”Kids of the future will never know the thrill of telling your parents to pick you up 30 minutes later than a movie ends…It’s a damn shame!” (Ian, The Water Coolest HQ)
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