06:44 AM EDT, 08/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- AMC Entertainment's ( AMC ) second-quarter loss widened year over year as revenue declined by a double-digit percentage, but Chief Executive Adam Aron expects "sustained growth" for the movie industry due to a long queue of blockbuster titles.

The movie theater chain reported late Friday an adjusted loss of $0.43 a share for the June quarter, compared with a loss of $0.04 the year before. Four analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected a per-share loss of $0.36. Revenue dropped about 24% to $1.03 billion amid decreases both in the US and internationally but was in line with the company's guidance issued in July.

"We have carefully and intensely studied the movie slate coming for the remainder of 2024 as well as the slates that are coming out for 2025 and 2026. Our current expectations are that the box office turned an important corner in June of 2024 and would be ahead," Aron said on an earnings conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript.

Shares of AMC Entertainment ( AMC ) were down 3.5% at the close of Friday's trading session, and fell 8.9% in premarket activity Monday.

Admissions revenue slid to $564.4 million from $744.1 million in the prior-year quarter, according to the company. Food and beverage sales declined to $367.1 million from $488.2 million last year. Overall attendance fell to about 50 million people from 66.4 million last year, while average ticket price increased to $11.29 from $11.21.

The quarter began slowly with the box office "adversely impacted" by last year's strikes from Hollywood writers and actors, but Walt Disney's (DIS) "Inside Out 2" helped the three-month period finish with "incredible strength," Aron said in a statement. "That difference between AMC's early quarter performance and our late quarter performance was as if we were two totally different companies, surrounded by two completely different industry dynamics."

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $29.4 million versus $182.5 million a year earlier. Operating costs and expenses fell to $1.08 billion from $1.26 billion last year. At the end of June, AMC's average screen count stood at 9,618, down 2.6% on an annual basis.

"With a long list of blockbuster movie titles opening in theatres during the remainder of the year and into 2025 and 2026, the industry-wide box office now appears to us to be poised for sustained growth," according to Aron. "Looking ahead, we believe that bodes ever so well for the increasing cash generation potential from AMC's movie theatres both at home and abroad."

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