AMC Theatres has raised $150 million through an at-the-market equity offering, and the world's largest movie theater chain is now using a surging box office as reason to push back a series of planned live concert events.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC closed the offering it had launched in February. Chief Executive Adam Aron said the move "strengthens our balance sheet, bolsters our cash reserves and provides additional flexibility to support our long-term strategic objectives."
The money comes as domestic box office performance has climbed well above last year's numbers. A combination of unexpected hits, including A24's Backrooms and Focus' Obsession, along with anticipated releases like Universal's Super Mario Galaxy Movie, has pushed 2026 ticket sales to 13 percent ahead of 2025, per weekly data from Rentrak. In May alone, AMC saw 25.5 million moviegoers visit its theaters, the highest May attendance since 2019, when Avengers: Endgame was in theaters.
That momentum has led AMC to delay its foray into live concerts. The chain had planned to host performances from Bebe Rexha on June 17, Paris Hilton on June 18, and Maren Morris on June 20 across 300 AMC locations in 89 markets. Those events have been postponed. Studios' films are drawing enough demand that AMC is choosing to hold titles in theaters for longer runs rather than give up screen time.
"Week after week in 2026, the domestic box office performance has exceeded or met expectations. With a robust lineup of films and strong advance ticket sales in the weeks ahead, AMC is making some programming adjustments during the month of June," a theater representative said Wednesday.
The decision to delay concerts is a notable reversal of stated strategy. Earlier, Aron had described the concert partnership as launching an "entirely new chapter in live entertainment while driving incremental attendance and revenue across our circuit." The initiative was also designed to reduce AMC's dependence on studio product, giving the chain a fallback when films underperform.
AMC has used that kind of non-studio programming successfully before. In 2023, it partnered with Taylor Swift for The Eras Tour concert film, which grossed $261 million globally.
The horror film Obsession offers a concrete example of the box office strength driving the decision. The Curry Barker film dropped only 7 percent in its fourth weekend, after earning more in its second and third weekends than at its opening. That kind of staying power is rare enough that comparisons to 1982's E.T.: The Extraterrestrial have come up.
AMC's stock has traded between $1.60 and $2.08 per share this year, with a slight upward trend in recent weeks.
