Pass the Popcorn

By Dan Gallagher

AMC's new position as a favorite of the latest YOLO binge is also boosting the stocks of other movie theater chains, though the aren't rising nearly as much yet.

Cinemark Holdings was up nearly 12% by early Wednesday afternoon, while U.K.-based Cineworld closed trading in London with a 10% gain. National CineMedia, which specializes in on-screen advertising at the major chains, was last up 20%. Those still look mild next to AMC's shares -- last up 236% for the day.

Ironically, the boost came following a bit of downbeat news for theater chains. AT&T reported that activations to its HBO Max streaming service totaled 17.2 million at the end of the fourth quarter --double what the service had at the end of the last quarter.

That could be a bad omen for theaters, as the quarter included the release of "Wonder Woman 1984" into both theaters and on HBO Max on the same day -- that's only the first of several Warner Bros. blockbusters (https://www.wsj.com/articles/hbo-max-needs-the-kick-from-warners-flicks-11607035289) that will see such treatment this year. Hopefully, the Reddit crowd saves some money to pick up some actual movie tickets when the time comes.

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January 27, 2021 14:19 ET (19:19 GMT)

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