Time For the Curtain Call
AMC is officially the first movie theater chain to set a hard reopening date among the COVID closures. They have shared tentative plans in the past as far as reopening goes but nothing ever really came of it.
Matter of fact, AMC has been circling the drain for the last few weeks alone. They liquidated almost their entire stock portfolio in order to have cash reserves to pay employees. Over the last two months, that reserve completely dried out and AMC became worried.
AMC Theatres, the world’s largest movie theater owner, has announced that it is planning to reopen its roughly 1,000 theaters around the world next month https://t.co/WaYj3dtMjF
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) June 9, 2020
So worried that they actually made a public announcement that they were concerned about being permanently closed. Stating that unless something happened soon or reopenings weren’t officially allowed, they wouldn’t be able to remain in business.
Public perception of this turned AMC into a major concern for the entertainment industry at large. Not so much because people would lose shares/money (although that is an obvious concern) but because it’s Cinemark’s only competitor. Most theater locations would never reopen, never be renovated and thousands of people would lose their jobs.
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Cinemark May be Planning the Long Con
This would spell disaster for everyone as Cinemark is only planning on reopening select theaters in the US. Plans for the EU, Asia and abroad have not been announced as of yet, outside of just wishful thinking.
On the other hand, AMC was initially only planning on a US reopening as well, similar to Cinemark’s plan. Now, that is no longer the case, at least according to AMC.
As of today, June 10th, AMC shared plans to reopen the movies with a definite date in mind. First week of July will see doors reopening at AMC locations, not just in the US but in the world. To reiterate, AMC is announcing a GLOBAL reopening for their movie theater locations.
This is huge news not just for AMC, but also for the entertainment industry at large. Several movie production studios recently announced returns to work for film crews as well. Including Matt Reeve’s The Batman as well as Netflix’s Witcher Season 2. So this might just be AMC trying to capitalize on a headline to garner interest back into their portfolios and pockets.
Certainly can’t say that we blame them given the current situation, and this puts them ahead of Cinemark for the time being. Of course, this may only be a matter of time, Cinemark may just be playing the long con when it comes to reopening.
We would love to see AMC and Cinemark reopen honestly. Movies have been gone too long and we’re starting to get movie theater withdrawals.
For more updates on reopenings and businesses, stay tuned here at Scoophash!
