AMC Theatres says 98 percent of locations to be open on Friday

AMC Theatres announced on Thursday that 98 percent of its locations will be open on Friday, March 19.

AMC will hit 98 percent on Friday as more than 40 of its locations in California open up and all of its locations in Los Angeles and San Diego county open.

“With additional openings in the United States expected over the next week, AMC anticipates that 99% of its U.S. circuit will be open by Friday, March 26,” the announcement states.

The move comes after almost a year of many AMC theaters being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“It was exactly one year ago that we closed all AMC locations in the United States. It gives me immense joy to say that by the end of next week we expect that 99% of our U.S. locations will have reopened,” said Adam Aron, the chief executive and president of AMC Entertainment.

The company lost over $4.6 billion in 2020 due to theaters being shut down around the world to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Aron said last week that this has been “the most challenging market conditions in the 100-year history of the company.”

“The Company is preparing to resume operations at its remaining California AMC locations once the proper local approvals are in place,” according to the announcement. “AMC will only reopen its theatres once approved to do so by state and local authorities.”

The opening of the theaters comes as millions of Americans have been vaccinated and states are beginning to ease some of their coronavirus restrictions that have been in place on businesses for months.