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Movie theater chains got some good news on Monday morning — trial data indicated Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective.
The news sent AMC shares soaring as high as 80% in premarket trading. Cinemark shares jumped nearly 40%, Marcus Theatres were up 18% and IMAX saw share rise 27%.
The coronavirus pandemic has battered theaters since March, crunching their bottom lines and threatening to push chains big and small towards bankruptcy. As of the close on Friday, Cinemark shares were down 74%, AMC was down 66% and Marcus was down 75%.
The hope is that with a vaccine, cases will decrease substantially and audiences will be more willing to return to theaters. This, in turn, will give studios confidence to keep major film titles on the calendar. Without fresh content, moviegoers won’t return in droves.
