AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies, including Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow”, would boost sales this year, sending the company’s shares up 9%, Reuters reported. AMC’s shares have more than doubled in the last 12 months, with the recent surge coming as a result of being one of the so-called “stonks” — a term used to describe stocks with convoluted prospects that are popular with retail traders on online forums. The health crisis devastated the film industry last year, forcing AMC and its rivals to raise new capital to stay afloat, but analysts polled by Refinitiv expect AMC’s revenue to more than double this year. The cinema chain’s move to implement COVID-19 safety protocols encouraged more than eight million customers to return to its theaters during the fourth quarter, AMC said. AMC added several major releases that were delayed would hit AMC’s big screens May onwards, with films such as “Godzilla vs. Kong”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Black Widow” and “F9” expected to boost sales in the coming months.
