Eric Wold: Last News

B. Riley analyst Eric Wold, who has stayed generally bullish on the movie theater business despite its recent trials, is now warning investors that the arrival of a “down box office year” has made him “increasingly cautious.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Without Taylor Swift and Martin Scorsese, the October box office would have been a ghost town long before Halloween hit. It was thanks to two unconventional releases — “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” one distributed by an exhibitor and the other backed by a major streaming service — that anyone went to the movies at all. It may get worse before it gets better.

Despite having new fundraising options in the wake of a judge’s ruling on Friday, AMC Entertainment started the week on a jarring note as its stock price skidded to its lowest level since January 2021.

The judge in a case brought by meme stock shareholders against AMC Entertainment declined to approve a settlement unveiled earlier this week that would have allowed the exhibitor to move ahead with plans to convert its AMC Preferred Equity units (APEs) to common stock, among other measures.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It may have been implausible a few years, heck, even a few months ago, that tech giants like Apple and Amazon would spend billions on theatrical movies. And yet, Apple is reportedly planning to invest $1 billion per year to make films that’ll play exclusively in cinemas. The news, which was first announced by Bloomberg, comes months after Amazon’s similar commitment to putting 12 to 15 new movies in theaters annually. Could it be that newer Hollywood players actually care about the big screen? “Having multiple large streaming platforms decide they need theaters shows there is value to theatrical, which was the biggest concern,” says Eric Wold, a media and entertainment industry analyst with B. Riley Securities.

The theatrical performance of Godzilla vs. Kong"destroys lingering concerns around theatrical window importance and demonstrates a solid path to resurgence" for cinema operators, B.

As exhibitors get set to report results from the last quarter of their annus horribilis, 2020, one Wall Street bull is predicting record box office in 2023.

B.

Veteran exhibition analyst Eric Wold of B. Riley has given Cinemark stock a big shot in the arm, so to speak, upgrading it to “buy” from “neutral” and doubling his price target.

B. Riley analyst Eric Wold in a Monday report further cut his domestic box office forecasts for 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

B. Riley analyst Eric Wold in a Monday reportcommented on the delay of the latest James Bond film until April amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and what it means for the exhibition industry, arguing that Hollywood studios must take a financial hit to help out exhibitors.

As the business week begins today, we’re already seeing massive financial implications from the news of “No Time to Die” being delayed and Cineworld shutting down its US and UK cinemas. And according to a new interview with THR, financial analyst Eric Wold believes that the next two months are going to be a “virtual ghost town” for theatrical releases and that studios need to be willing to take financial risks to ensure that cinemas will be viable when states fully reopen sometime in the future.

While the domestic box office launch for Warner Bros.'Tenethas widely been described as tepid, one analyst said he sees it as a good sign. "We actually view the results as encouraging and a positive indicator of demand given all of the COVID-19 headwinds," B.

Imax Corp.'s strong box office share with library titles, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which won the weekend in China, led one analyst on Monday to laud the company's "impressive" performance. Reiterating his "buy" rating and $18 price target on Imax's stock, B.

Jill Goldsmith Co-Business EditorImax shares shot higher Wednesday as Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the large-format leader with a “buy” rating, saying it’s well positioned to take share in the current environment and has ample cash to navigate a potentially turbulent recovery.The stock was up more than 16% on a day of solid gains for exhibition that saw Cinemark rising over 15% and Marcus up 13% with an hour left of trading. They outpaced other media stocks and an upbeat market.Separately, analyst Eric Wold of B Riley FBR was cautiously upbeat that patchwork and unpredictable theater openings nationwide as COVID-19 cases spike in some states may push studios to release new films sooner instead of waiting for a perfect date.

B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold in a Wednesday report lowered his stock price targets for movie theater operators and projected that the 2021 box office would fall about 20 percent below 2019 levels – when the domestic haul reached $11.4 billion and global revenue hit $42.5 billion, following the novel coronavirus pandemic.

B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold on Monday downgraded his rating on shares of exhibition giant Cinemark from "buy" to "neutral," citing "continued uncertainty around key state opening timelines and [the] second-half film slate and [a] worsening COVID-19 situation in Brazil." He cut his price target on the stock from $16 to $13.

By Jill Goldsmith

B.

By Jill Goldsmith

With Wall Street judging a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for AMC Theatres increasingly likely, B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold on Monday recommended investors sell off stock in the exhibition giant.