AMC Theatres books… Zoom?

The Future. AMC Theatres is partnering with Zoom to turn screens into conference rooms, allowing companies to hold company-wide events for a hybrid workforce. While this might eventize the quarterly all-hands meeting, it may be a perfect example of CEO Adam Aron’s claim that there are not enough new movies to fill up available screens… so they want to monetize them somehow.

Conference cinema
AMC now wants you to work at the cinema.

• THR reports that AMC’s movie theater Zoom rooms will debut in 17 US markets sometime next year.
• Companies can reserve three-hour blocks at several locations simultaneously.

AMC and Zoom will provide the proper equipment and even offer concession services, a dedicated concierge, and, yes, an actual movie viewing for an extra cost.

There’s always money in the banana stand
This isn’t AMC and Adam Aron’s first wild idea at juicing up revenue post-COVID. It acquired a 22% stake in a gold and silver mining operation in Nevada, making its popcorn available for retail, and creating a stock dividend called APE to keep the retail investor crowd on Reddit happy.

It still hasn’t been quite enough to lift AMC’s stock, which hit a 52-week low after losing 80% of its value this year, per CNBC. During its Q3 earnings call yesterday, the theater chain reported a 27% increase in revenue (yay!) but widening losses due to more operational costs (not yay).

But AMC execs are probably at least happy they’re not working at Cineworld right now…