The ritual of hitting the local multiplex, which was a weekend rite of passage no less, with its big screen, a simple dark room where you could lose yourself for two hours, accompanied by your bucket of popcorn, is fading.
The world’s largest exhibitor is no longer trying to fight the tide with more screens; instead, it’s quietly pulling the plug on the projectors.
AMC is getting smaller.
On its latest earnings call in late February, the company said it expects to keep closing more theaters than it opens. That’s already been happening. Since 2020, AMC has shut down 213 locations and opened 65 new ones.
The strategy isn’t expansion. It’s pruning.
Less Popcorn, More Problems
The financial results for 2025 tell a story of two different realities. For the fourth quarter, AMC reported $1.28 billion in revenue, a minor 1.4% dip from the previous year, but the number of people actually sitting in seats told a grimmer story. Total foot traffic plunged nearly 10%, with 56.3 million moviegoers showing up compared to 62 million during the same stretch in 2024.
This exodus was felt most sharply overseas, where international attendance cratered by 15%, while domestic U.S. theaters saw a more moderate 7.5% decline. For the full year, the picture was slightly better. Revenue rose about 4.6% to $4.84 billion. Attendance still declined overall, but not as steeply as it did in the fourth quarter.
Even so, fewer people buying tickets means fewer people buying popcorn. And concessions are where theaters make much of their profit. CFO Sean Goodman told analysts that AMC plans to keep closing “underperforming locations.” About 10% of its theaters come up for lease renewal each year, which gives the company room to renegotiate or walk away.
The cinema giant currently operates around 860 theaters worldwide. Recent closures reported by local outlets in 2025 have included locations in Alabama, Kansas, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, and Buffalo, New York.
The broader industry hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic. Attendance remains uneven, and streaming continues to compete for attention. Higher ticket prices and fewer broadly appealing blockbusters haven’t helped. AMC says it’s positioning itself for “sustainable long-term growth.” For now, that means shrinking the footprint.
The stock tells its own story. Shares of the company were trading around $1.16 in premarket following the earnings report. At its peak during the 2021 meme-stock surge, the stock traded near $650.
Theaters aren’t disappearing. But for AMC, fewer screens, at least for now, may be part of the plan.
Sources: AMC, Fast Company