Jungle Cruise, Walt Disney Co’s latest blockbuster, may have served to further lift recovery hopes for battered cinema chains such as AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) Inc and Cineworld Group PLC (LSE:CINE) after the film saw a strong opening weekend.
The film, which is based on Disney’s theme park ride of the same name and stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, beat expectations at its opening weekend by grossing US$34.2mln at the US domestic box office, making it the fourth-best opening for any film during the pandemic period.
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Jungle Cruise was also released at the same time on the Premium Access rental segment of Disney’s streaming platform, which reportedly raked in around US$30mln and may provide further ammunition to critics saying same-day releases of films on streaming services is heavily cutting into cinema takings.
Despite the debate over streaming, which has already sparked a lawsuit against Disney by actor Scarlet Johansson who claimed breach of contract over the corporation’s decision to release Marvel epic Black Widow on its Disney+ service simultaneously as its cinema debut, the better-than-expected opening for Jungle Cruise in cinemas is likely to boost hopes that the industry could bounce back from the pandemic effectively thanks to pent-up consumer demand.
AMC, in particular, will be keen to keep the good news flowing for its army of retail shareholders, who piled into the stock earlier in the year following the advent of the ‘memestock’ trading frenzy sparked by a surge in the value of video game retailer GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) as traders from the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets sought to squeeze short positions taken out against the firm.
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AMC, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy in January, was another beneficiary of the memestock trend, with its shares having increased by around 1,741% so far this year.
The influx of retail investors has been embraced by AMC’s chairman Adam Aron, who as part of an effort to increase participation with the firm’s new retail cohort has created a dedicated investor tab on the firm’s website as well as offering free popcorn, coffee and loyalty program membership to shareholders.