AMC Could Double 2021's Revenue This Year -- Here's Why I'm Not Impressed

Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) is on the mend following a disastrous, pandemic-crimped 2020. Last year's top line of a little more than $2.5 billion more than doubled the prior year's revenue of only $1.2 billion. And, thanks to the box office hit Spiderman: No Way Home, the final quarter of 2021 accounted for nearly $1.2 billion of that full-year total. CEO Adam Aron believes U.S. ticket sales could nearly double on a year-over-year basis again in fiscal/calendar 2022. Maybe he's right.

Don't get too excited about that prospect, however. Even at twice 2021's ticket sales tally, the domestic movie industry would still be smaller than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic rattled it. Perhaps worse, there's good reason to think Aron's outlook may be a bit too optimistic.

There's no ambiguity about his expectation. Aron plainly stated during Tuesday's quarterly conference call, "As we look forward to the full calendar year of 2022 ... we think that the overall domestic industry box office, which is a good placeholder for the size of our industry, both here in the United States and abroad, could be nearly double that of 2021." He added, "And that makes us in AMC bullish about our continued progress."

Source Fool.com