AMC Theaters in Evansville plans to reopen after closing for 'maintenance'
EVANSVILLE – AMC Theatres on Evansville's West Side was set to reopen Wednesday after being shuttered for several days due to undisclosed "maintenance."
An associate at the theater said they planned to resume business around 4 p.m. Moviegoers may still have trouble buying tickets online, however, so it may be best to do so in person.
As of Wednesday morning, a statement on AMC's website still said the branch on Pearl Drive was "temporarily closed for unforeseen maintenance." It doesn't go into any further detail, and a corporation spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment from the Courier & Press on Wednesday.
According to multiple social media posts last summer and this winter, however, the theater has battled HVAC issues that either left moviegoers breaking a sweat or freezing. Others complained about busted soda machines and an undermanned staff doing their best to keep up.
Like many other theater chains, AMC has struggled off and on since the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, the corporation wrote in an SEC filing that it was so short on cash that it could have run out of money by the end of that month.
The chain eventually raised enough capital to stay open. Recent SEC documents, though, show the trouble hasn't completely abated.
In 2020, as COVID shuttered theaters around the globe, North American box office revenue dipped to $2.2 billion. That's compared to more than $11 billion the year before. That number has since crawled back to around $9 billion, but the remaining shortfall still has AMC in a precarious position, documents show.
A year-end form filed with the SEC in 2022 stated the company was struggling with a "substantial level of indebtedness" and "liquidity constraints." It also ran through a laundry list of problems that hang over every theater chain these days: shortened theatrical windows; streaming services; and a public increasingly used to watching films at home.
Hordes of people still go to the movies every day, however. According to SEC documents, more than 700 million went to AMC Theaters alone in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville's AMC Theatres set to reopen; national issues still remain
