AMC beats quarterly revenue estimates on 'Barbenheimer' boost

(Reuters) - AMC Entertainment beat third-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday, riding on the success of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" movies as volumes of theatrical releases also improved at the box office.

Popular and diverse movie titles are driving moviegoers to theaters in a post-pandemic environment, with pent-up demand and high ticket prices helping theater chain operators.

"AMC kept its market share elevated in the quarter, we think by virtue of its premium large format screen footprint," Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese said.

Attendance in AMC theaters increased 38.4% to 73,576 in the third quarter.

Concert films by Taylor Swift and Beyonce are expected to benefit the company in the fourth quarter as several movies have been moved to the next year, CEO Adam Aron said on an earnings call.

"AMC is currently doing an excellent job of showing moviegoers and investors alike that it can fill a release slate with alternative content of various types if and when any release slate holes arise," Wedbush analysts said last Friday.

The movie theater chain posted revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with estimates of $1.26 billion, according to LSEG data.

"For both revenue and adjusted EBITDA, these were AMC's most successful third-quarter results in our company's entire 103-year history," Aron added.

AMC's profit per share stood at 8 cents, compared with estimates of a loss of 19 cents per share.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shounak Dasgupta)