By Abb Jones
The Reelness

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest movie theater chain, says it has “substantial doubt” its more than 1000 theaters in the United States and Europe can remain in business due to its current closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a regulatory filing Wednesday, the theatre chain, which has 661 theaters in the United States and 244 theaters throughout Europe, said that it is generating effectively no revenue, and that even if government restrictions are lifted, the added delay of movie studios releasing new films will likely result in a continued period of little to no revenue.  AMC Theatres says as of April, it had a cash balance of $718.3 million.

AMC Theatres says it expects to have lost somewhere from $2.1 to 2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2020, after temporarily closing theaters on March 17th.

Movie theater chains like AMC are also facing another threat, as audiences start watching new movies that are bypassing the chains for a digital release. Universal Pictures released Trolls World Tour on April 10th. Universal’s announcement afterwards that it plans to release more movies straight to digital even if theaters reopen has sparked a feud with AMC Theatres.