By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
AMC Entertainment’s Q4 results were envisaged to be profitable after releasing its preliminary Q4 release in February.
AMC Entertainment Holdings has declared its plans to own its cryptocurrency. AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) has revealed its most recent crypto adoption while announcing its 2021 Q4 earnings results. The company said it will begin accepting Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) for movie tickets “in a couple of weeks.” This is not the entertainment company’s debut into the crypto space. AMC Entertainment started accepting online payments via crypto back in 2021. The CEO, Adam Aron, said the company is committed to exploring the crypto sector. According to Aron, AMC is “quite intrigued” by the business opportunities that the industry holds. He added:
“AMC also picked up the capability to accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal online. Incredibly, in just a few months, these latter three forms of payment, along with cryptocurrency, already constitute more than 15% of our online ticketing activity, as was seen in the fourth quarter of 2021.”
With the growing buzz around non-fungible tokens, AMC has also moved towards a new trend. Since November, the company has had four NFT campaigns making over 800,000 NFTs available to its guests and audience. These NFTs were used to sell tickets for Dune, Spiderman, and The Batman movies. Some of the tokens also went to stakeholders. The Spiderman NFTs made $17,000 in sales on the aftermarket and subsequent public offering.
Furthermore, AMC Entertainment is currently exploring the possibilities of issuing its own crypto. As a result, the company has been observing regulatory frameworks behind digital assets. The CEO explained:
“The regulatory framework surrounding cryptocurrency is going to change dramatically, so we always believe in staying on the right side of the law.”
Crypto, NFTs Impact on AMC Entertainment Q4 Revenue
AMC Entertainment’s Q4 results were envisaged to be profitable after releasing its preliminary Q4 release in February. The movie theatre chain announced preliminary revenue of about $1.17 billion, 0.1% higher than the expected $1.09 billion. Also, the expected preliminary adjusted EBITDA to preliminarily was between $146.8 million to $151.8 million. Instead, the Wall Street consensus estimate was $82.4 million. AMC stock saw a 15% hike after the preliminary release.
According to the Q4 results, adjusted EBITDA was about $160 million, and operating cash was over $220 million. AMC had a whopping 59.68 million guests as its consolidated attendance surged massively from 8.09 million moviegoers year on year. Adjusted loss per share was 11 cents against the estimation of 16 cents. Additionally, total revenue was $1.17 billion, an increase over the prediction of $1.16 billion. AMC said the Q4 2021 results represent its strongest quarter in two fiscal years.
The online sale of Spiderman: “No Way Home,” released by Sony (SNE), enhanced a boost in AMC’s Q4. The high demand for the movie and further encourages AMC to focus on crypto and NFTs. AMC describes it as a “robust and appealing film slate that culminated with the exclusive theatrical release.”