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Planet of the Ape

AMC C.E.O. Adam Aron and I have had many, uh, spirited conversations in private over the past few years, so I was excited when he agreed to join a panel that I moderated in Las Vegas, where we talked candidly about bankruptcy fears, his faith in a 2025 box office rebound, his desires for Apple and Amazon, and all his meme-stock-loving APE buddies.

adam aron matt belloni
Realizing that a bankruptcy would wipe out his retail shareholders (and probably cost him his job), AMC C.E.O. Adam Aron has been defiant. Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for CinemaCon
Matthew Belloni
April 12, 2024

Regular readers of What I’m Hearing are very familiar with Adam Aron, the C.E.O. of AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater company. Since naming him Villain of the Year in 2021 for his stock sales during the height of the “APEs” meme craziness, I’ve followed the AMC saga through the devastating aftermath of Covid, which shuttered most of his 10,000 theaters globally and 8,200 in the U.S. and Canada. To Aron’s credit, he has so far prevented AMC from going bankrupt, a fate that befell rivals Cineworld (home of Regal) and Alamo Drafthouse. But some believe it’s only a matter of time for AMC, and that Chapter 11 might even be the most prudent path for the company long-term.