May 9 (Reuters) - AMC Entertainment beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Monday, as the release of big-ticket films such as "The Batman" drew crowds to movie halls, driving a surge in box-office collections at the theater chain.
After its business was hammered by the pandemic for much of last year, AMC is slowly turning a corner, as a steady stream of new releases such as "Scream" and "Uncharted" attracted 39,000 moviegoers to its theaters in the first quarter, compared with 6,797 a year earlier.
Revenue at the company, which became one of the symbols of a meme stock-trading frenzy last year, rose to $785.7 million in the quarter ended March 31 from $148.3 million a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of $743.4 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net loss narrowed to $337.4 million, or 65 cents per share, during the quarter, compared with $567.2 million, or $1.42 per share, a year earlier.
Shares of the company were up 3% in extended trading.
