(Reuters) -AMC Entertainment Holdings said on Tuesday the current quarter was off to a strong start, driven by box-office hits such as "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer", after posting a surprise profit and beating second-quarter revenue estimates.
Shares of the movie theater chain rose nearly 3% in early trading. The stock, a hot favorite of retail investors, has risen about 26% so far this year.
"The third quarter of 2023 is off to an explosive start with "Barbie", "Oppenheimer", "Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", and "Sound of Freedom"," CEO Adam Aron said, adding that July recorded the highest ever monthly revenue for AMC.
Movie theaters have been seeing a revival during the year following an uneven recovery from pandemic lows, thanks to a steady stream of movie releases.
AMC's second-quarter revenue rose 15.6% to $1.35 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $1.29 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
The company reported a surprise profit of 1 cent per share, while analysts' were expecting a loss of 4 cents.
"AMC's glide path to eventual recovery continued with significant pace in the second quarter of 2023 as our results set new records and represent AMC's strongest second quarter in four full years," Aron said.
Aron said the U.S. movie industry is 20% ahead of where it was last year and could propel even higher in the second half of 2023, unless the current writers and actors strikes delay the release of movie titles into next year.
The strikes over pay in the streaming era have disrupted production of scripted series for the fall TV season and halted work on films.