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Movies Businesses The Almighty Buck

AMC Raises $917 Million To Weather 'Dark Coronavirus-Impacted Winter' (variety.com) 53

Posted by BeauHD from the equity-and-debt dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: AMC Theatres, the world's largest cinema chain, has raised $917 million in new equity and debt capital, the company said on Monday. "This increased liquidity should allow the company to make it through this dark coronavirus-impacted winter," the company said, adding that its "financial runway has been extended deep into 2021." AMC has raised the finances from Dec. 14, 2020. Of the $917 million, AMC has raised $506 million of equity, from the issuance of 164.7 million new common shares, along with the previously announced securing of $100 million of additional first-lien debt and the concurrent issuance of 22 million new common shares to convert $100 million of second-lien debt into equity.

In addition, the company has executed commitment letters for $411 million of incremental debt capital in place through mid-2023, unless repaid before then, through the upsizing and refinancing of its European revolving credit facility. The chain says that it presumes that it will continue to make progress in its ongoing dialogue with theater landlords about the amounts and timing of owed theater lease payments, and is hopeful that the ongoing vaccination push will result in an increase in cinema attendance. As a result, AMC shares soared 36% in premarket trade Monday.
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AMC Raises $917 Million To Weather 'Dark Coronavirus-Impacted Winter' More

AMC Raises $917 Million To Weather 'Dark Coronavirus-Impacted Winter'

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  • There are three kinds of people that actually like movie theaters:

    Hard Core film buffs
    Movie Producers
    Shareholders of Movie theater companies

    Combined this group consists of 0.00001% of consumers. Literally everyone else would love to just have the option to pay to stream new movies at home.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

      ... And even movie producers themselves are wishy-washy on the issue.

    • Re:AMC soon learns people don't really like theate (Score:4, Funny)

      by rlp ( 11898 ) on Monday January 25, 2021 @05:17PM (#60990828)

      Four - people who like greasy over-priced popcorn.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

        I know a boy scout who can hook you up with greasy over-priced popcorn you can fix up for yourself at home.

    • You forgot horny teenagers.

      And people who like greasy popcorn.

      I would suggest that all of the above can be better served by converting existing theaters back into drive-ins. Bonus if they can add robotic delivery to cars from the snack bar.

    • Literally everyone else would love to just have the option to pay to stream new movies at home.

      I'm not really arguing with your point, but surely I can't be alone in not caring about seeing new movies at all? If they're any good I'm happy to watch them once they are older movies and I don't have to pay at all. I'm not suggesting that no good movies are made these days, but its been a long time since a movie came out that I felt I had to see straight away. At best I think 'I might catch that sometime when it comes up on some service I've already got'.

    • Literally everyone else would love to just have the option to pay to stream new movies at home.

      I hear this all the time, but I respectfully disagree:

      • There are very few obnoxious people affecting my movie-going experience (YMMV, of course)
      • I, as many other people, don't have the space to set up a proper home theater (so some movies are fine at home and some are not). Also, there is neighbors to consider with respect to setting up sound systems.
      • I also don't have the internet to stream movies at serious quality. Youtube at full HD is a hit-or-miss, depending on time of day.
      • There is something to be said about the human experience of going out with friends.

      People like movie theaters, but they are mostly not willing to take the extra risk. Once it is reasonably safe, I will be back to movie theater (if they still exist...).

    • And seeing as they issued 190M new shares, there are many new shareholders to love them. That might be the new business model. Issue and sell shares.

    • Re:AMC soon learns people don't really like theate (Score:5, Insightful)

      by LatencyKills ( 1213908 ) on Monday January 25, 2021 @06:29PM (#60991130)
      I'm going to push back a little. I'm not a film buff, nor a stockholder, nor a producer, and sometimes I just like to actually go to a movie with a group of friends. We'll often pair it with dinner. There's a theater near here that does both - serves pretty good pub-ish food during the movie. It might only be 5-10 movies a year, but it is in the rotation of our regular group-of-people activities.

    • There are three kinds of people that actually like movie theaters:

      Hard Core film buffs
      Movie Producers
      Shareholders of Movie theater companies

      Combined this group consists of 0.00001% of consumers. Literally everyone else would love to just have the option to pay to stream new movies at home.

      Also, kids, parents of kids, people who can't blast loud audio at home, people who don't have large screens at home, people who just want to get out of the house, people who enjoy seeing a very large screen, people who want to go somewhere to be with friends.

      If all one cares about is seeing the movie, it's cheaper and less hassle to stream. However, that's not the only reason to see a movie. Just like watching sports or concerts at home on TV is usually cheaper, less hassle, and provides a better view. H

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

        You clearly don't have kids.

        Not that there is anything wrong with that.

        • You clearly don't have kids.

          Not that there is anything wrong with that.

          I do have kids. That's why I know kids like to get together, and going to the theater is a thing for them.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

            I think you are in the minority in the "I like taking my kids to theaters" category. But hey, if that's your families thing, knock yourself out. Everyone else in the theater hates you, but who cares. You do you.

            • I think you are in the minority in the "I like taking my kids to theaters" category. But hey, if that's your families thing, knock yourself out. Everyone else in the theater hates you, but who cares. You do you.

              I think you're only thinking from a young adult perspective. There are actually many other types of people. When I take my kids to the theater, at the times that I go and for the films that we see, the theater has mostly kids and families.

    • Date night (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday January 25, 2021 @06:43PM (#60991198)
      you're gonna keep having theaters because a lot of girls aren't going to a guy's apartment on the 1st date and Gen Z can't afford their own apartments anyway.

      Reports of the Movie Theater's death are greatly exaggerated.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

        First dates aren't gonna keep theaters open. Sorry.

      • you're gonna keep having theaters because a lot of girls aren't going to a guy's apartment on the 1st date

        "Netflix and chill" has been a thing for awhile now, gramps. Zoomers get to know each other on hookup apps (Tinder, et al.), and are likely to spend the first date bumping uglies. Night clubs have also been feeling the pain ever since smartphone dating blew up. Disney Springs demolished all theirs a few years ago to put in more shops and dining.

        As they say, that's progress..

  • I think the landscape is changed though, more films will probably see releases direct to consumers. Theaters have better sounds\screens, and that isn't going to change for a lot of people. The last theater standing wins so if they can just hold out a while longer they'll have an increased market from the theaters that went under.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

      I can imagine Disney buying AMC or Cinemark and converting the theaters into basically Event Centers. All screens showing one major movie a weekend with the entire theater decked out in decorations for the event.

      Sure you can stream the new Star Wars movie at home for $20, OR you can go to a Disney Cinemark and pay $150, and $45 for the limited edition t-shirt, to really geek out all night with a few thousand of your fellow local Star Wars fans.

      • volume.... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mckwant ( 65143 ) on Monday January 25, 2021 @06:12PM (#60991064)

        That's a lot of real estate. Events off the top of my head, let's say rights get worked out, and they take up the entire week to keep the arithmetic simple:

        Film (10):
        2 Star Wars
        2 MCU
        maybe 4-6 other major releases/yr, let's be generous, call it 6.

        TV (7):
        GoT or similar, maybe, but there's no zeitgeist any more to drive enough volume.
        Reality Shows: Bachelor, and the like. Let's say 6 (Kardashians? Project Runway? NBA Wives? RPDR? Out of my element here...)

        Sports (7):
        March Madness
        Super Bowl
        College FB Championship
        College FB Bowls (NYear's Day, anyway)
        World Series, maybe?
        Maaaybe two others, but I can't think what they would be.

        Retro/Revival (8):
        LOTR/Hobbit marathons
        I'd have to ask my daughter, but Insurgent/Hunger Games/Twilight/...? Summer film festival type stuff (West Side Story, et al). Again, let's guess 6 total.

        That's 32 weekends filled, only 20 to go. eSports, maybe cosplay, virtual gaming conventions, but I don't know that you'd have national audiences for that.

        God help you during the summer.

      • I can imagine Disney buying AMC or Cinemark and converting the theaters into basically Event Centers. All screens showing one major movie a weekend with the entire theater decked out in decorations for the event

        They would almost certainly run afoul of the same anti-monopoly laws that forced the movie studios to divest ownership of cinemas in the first place. You did know that it used to be you would go to the MGM Theatre to see the latest MGM film? Going to the Disney Theatre to see the latest Disney film would not fly unless MGM is allowed to back in too.

  • The real issue is culture. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Monday January 25, 2021 @05:15PM (#60990820)

    Once this lasts long enough - the culture shifts.

    The very idea of movies doesn't really have to be going into a dark room with lots of people to watch a piece of fabric with light shining on it.

    The home experience has a LOT of advantages to it.

    Movie theaters have been shifting into less and less of a cultural touchstone, a real shared experience for a long time.

    Of course, it started largely as a way to get air conditioning (first places to use it in most places) - and even before the pandemic, it was largely a throwback to an earlier mindset of watching things.

    I can't help but think that we might be able to explore better forms of shared content after this pandemic, if we stop making content with big screens and the first market for our shared premium passive entertainment.

    I think we can do a LOT better without the big screen as the first stop, and the basis of our judgments of movies.

    Ryan Fenton

    • When we get headsets that are decent enough to make it appear we're watching a huge screen, with a shared audience application (opt-in, of course) we might be talking. I get that there's a lot of folks that don't want the social aspects of movie-going, but for some that's part of the enjoyment. Especially for event moves. Hearing everyone around you gasp when the big shock happens, or laugh when you all see something funny, or even applaud if the film hit the mark at the end, that's not something you can

      • Yeah - well, if they make this, the major advertising for it should feature this:

        Baby crying (low volume)... mouse hovering over it... menu... mute.

        Honestly though, I don't know why you'd want to hear random other folks during a movie. Maybe the MST3k/Rifftrax folks sure - but not other random audience members.

        Laugh tracks are horrible enough in old TV.

        The whole studio audience thing was to involve the old theater sensibilities - that dinner theater feeling of a shared laugh feeding the actors performance

      • i like going to the theater when nobody is there.

    • Theaters were dying before Covid.

      I predict a surge of business once Covid is "solved", dropping back off to nothing in short order, followed by the demise of basically all cinemas.

  • Over $1B? I guess that will cover the executive pay and bonuses ... /cynical

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

      Honestly, you probably aren't too far off. The exects will probably pay themselves directly from the new financing and then bankrupt the company in 90 days.

  • Movie Theaters need to offer something special to the masses. A big screen and big sound used to be enough. However, technology has caught up with them with large screen TVs, 4K HDR picture, and DOLBY ATMOS sound.

    Theaters need to stay a step or two ahead of what is commercially available to the masses. 3D is an advantage, but not a popular one. I doubt that is enough. If it became popular, it would become affordable to the masses in short order. The tech is available already.

    I'm not advocating shock

    • Movie Theaters need to offer something special to the masses. A big screen and big sound used to be enough.

      Yeah, but you also used to require a unique storyline. Perhaps a plot even.

      These days, they'll throw any old sequel or seven against the silver screen, just to see if it sticks.

      Again.

      With 17 seconds of lost shoulda-stayed-on-the-cutting-floor footage, Special Anniversary Edition.

    • How about not force feeding you a full half hour of adverts at full volume ? I hate the movie theater...you have to give me something big screen worthy for the 30 plus minutes of ads and coming attractions...I paid to sit there, the ads aren't to cover costs like TV.

    • Theaters need to stay a step or two ahead of what is commercially available to the masses.

      Better tech just becomes diminishing returns after a certain point. We're already there with mainstream music streaming services, where the over-compressed audio quality is so awful that kids today are actually impressed with vinyl again.

    • i keep telling them to start making veggie and fruit smoothies and they just nod their head up and down like they are some robotic psyborg that cant compute but has been programmed to just nod approvingly.
  • What will happen to them ?
  • Who know who else likes movie theaters? Wealthy totalitarian regimes that like having an outlet for propaganda
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I simply wanted to write down a fast word to mention you for those wonderful tips and hints you're showing on this site

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