Coming soon to a theater near you: Zoom.
AMC Theatres is partnering with Zoom Video Communications to turn select theaters into Zoom conference rooms. The two companies plan to launch the rooms in 17 of AMC’s major U.S. markets in 2023.
At launch, companies can book a three-hour block of time at several theaters simultaneously, in order to hold virtual events across multiple markets. AMC and Zoom will provide the equipment and will offer food and beverage services, a concierge and a movie viewing for an extra cost.
This is the latest non-traditional move made by AMC as it seeks to emerge from the pandemic and chip away at its high debt load. Other moves have included buying a 22 percent stake in a gold mine, pushing for its popcorn to be sold in retail stores and creating a special stock dividend, called APE, for the retail investors who rallied around the stock and helped the company avoid bankruptcy.
“AMC has an abundance of attractive theatres at centrally located venues in city after city after city, each with ample seating capacity, especially so during daytime hours on weekdays when most meetings take place,” said AMC CEO Adam Aron. “Our state-of-the-art sight and sound technology is widely renowned, and has made gathering in movie theatres one of the most popular out-of-home entertainment options in the United States. Zoom Rooms at AMC broadens our scope, as we now can participate as well in the multi-billion market for corporate and other meetings.”
AMC Theatres reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday. In the company’s last earnings call, Aron warned of weaker box office performance for the quarter, due to the slowdown in wide releases, but he remained optimistic about the fourth quarter and 2023.