All of AMC's revenue growth came from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé films, theater chain says

Move over, Nicole Kidman. AMC has some new patron saints.

In the final three months of 2023, AMC saw revenue increase 12%, and operating profit by one measure nearly triple, compared with the same period a year before. "Literally all" that growth was tied to concert films from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, AMC CEO Adam Aron told analysts Wednesday.

"These two movies added greatly, not only to AMC's bottom line, but to movie theater success across our entire industry," Aron said on the movie theater chain's fourth-quarter earnings call. "Just these two films represented fully one-ninth of the complete fourth-quarter, domestic, industry-wide box office."

AMC was behind "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" and "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé," the first movie distributions in the company's 103-year-old history. Those projects, both released in the final quarter of 2023, came near the end of a year culturally defined by the two pop stars' tours.

U.S. market share for AMC, based outside Kansas City, expanded as a result of the two movies, Aron said. In the fourth quarter, AMC's domestic box office receipts from the two releases alone beat out the distribution totals from most major studios, excluding Disney, he said.

Now, AMC's phones are "ringing off the hook" as other artists look to the company to distribute filmed versions of their concerts in theaters in 2024 and 2025, he said.

"This is a stunning result, given that neither of these films were on anyone's drawing board until midyear, and that they were the first movies ever distributed by AMC," said Aron. "What a triumph for our company. To that end, it is no surprise that our praise for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has no limit."

It's little surprise that the two divas boosted