Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ blockbuster hauled in a record $153 million over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) – Get AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Class A Report shares powered higher Tuesday following a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend launch for Paramount’s blockbuster ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ movie.
Comscore data showed Monday that Top Gun, directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise in a reprisal his iconic 1986 role as Navy fighter pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, earned more than $153 million over the four-day weekend, a tally that both topped the previous record set by “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” in 2007 and smashed industry forecasts.
The Paramount Studios film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was originally slated for release in 2020 but premiered at Cannes earlier this month with Cruise, 59, receiving an honorary ‘Palme d’Or’ from the prestigious film festival.
“I saw the movie in a private screening for exhibitors a few weeks ago. It is just stunning,” AMC CEO Adam Aron told investors in early May. “In my view, it’s a cinematic masterpiece, and oh, my, are we going to sell tickets for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at AMC.”
“I really do think that among the biggest things we can do to ensure our relevance is to make sure that we have a steady parade and cavalcade of major movie titles with broad consumer appeal that are being released by studios,” he added. “And we are absolutely committed to being innovators in theatrical exhibition, keeping the quality of our theaters high.”
AMC shares were marked 8% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $15.59 each.
AMC posted a huge increase in first quarter ticket sales in early May, thanks in part to success of films such as The Batman” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home”.
Revenues for the three months ending in March were pegged at $785.7 million, a more than four-fold increase from last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $743 million. The group also posted a narrower-than-expected first quarter loss of 52 cents per share.
