In a plot twist no one saw coming and many find scarcely believable, the world’s largest cinema chain has become an investor in a gold and silver mining company – the struggling owner of a single gold and silver mine at that. This wasn’t in the script.
Except it is now. AMC Entertainment – since 2016 the parent company of Odeon Cinemas, which has 12 multiplexes in Ireland – has acquired a 22 per cent stake in Hycroft Mining for $28 million (€25 million). The silver screen is no longer enough. A silver mine is the shiny new addition to the AMC portfolio.
People either don’t understand what is going on with this acquisition and are shaking their heads, whispering to the person beside them for an explanation, or they understand it exactly – and are still shaking their heads. Did AMC management get lost trying to find their seats in the dark?
AMC chief executive Adam Aron, declaring the investment a “bold diversification move”, duly posted pictures of himself in safety gear in the Nevada desert – an apocalyptic movie set of a place where Hycroft ceased mining operations last November, lacking the finance to construct a mill for silver sulphide and gold ore processing.
“It has 15 million ounces of gold resources! And 600 million ounces of silver resources!” Aron nevertheless tweeted excitedly.
Even when cinemas were permitted to reopen, box offices were kept subdued by restricted capacities, the holding back of exclusive top-drawer product and ongoing virus wariness among the public
That he had zero co-stars in this publicity burst did not go unremarked upon, and the next day he followed up by posting one with his arm around…