After a long dry spell, shares of movie theater stocks perked up Tuesday. The biggest winner is AMC Entertainment, whose shares soared more than 20% following a record Memorial Day Weekend box office haul.

AMC hit an intraday high of $4.01, up 24% for the day for its highest intraday price since early January. The notoriously erratic meme stock wasn't the only winner, however. Rival chains Marcus and Cinemark also made notable moves, rising around 10% and 3%, respectively. Meanwhile, large-screen theater operator Imax was on track to close at a new 52-week high around $28.09 a share, up 4% for the day.

Kid-friendly Lilo & Stitch, along with Tom Cruise's latest Mission Impossible film, led domestic box office sales to $325 million over the long weekend from Friday through Monday, according to data from Box Office Mojo. That's more than twice last year's haul and well above the last recent high in 2013 of $314 million, fueled by Fast & Furious 6.

The holiday weekend was "the real kick-off" for what looks like a "robust box office year," Wedbush's Alicia Reese told Barron's. She added that "the strong year started even earlier than that, with Minecraft, Sinners, and Final Destination all beating expectations before the Memorial Day weekend." U.S. box office sales year to date have now topped $3 billion, up 23% from the same time in 2024.

The strong weekend and second quarter overall "should help to boost investor confidence in an exhibition industry recovery," Texas Capital Securities' Eric Wold wrote in a research note Tuesday. He added that this is the first quarter in more than a year with a normalized film release schedule following the Hollywood writer and actor strikes.

One reason why Marcus may be seeing a bigger bump than Cinemark is because it had softer performance earlier in the year due to its hotel industry exposure in its lodging division, Marcus Hotels & Resorts, notes Barrington Research's Patrick Sholl. "The stronger performance from their Theatre segment may reduce some of the concern on the overall company's macro exposure," he said.

Shares of Walt Disney, which produced and released the live-action Lilo & Stitch, also rose around 2% Tuesday. The more modest move may reflect its more diversified business, which spans theme parks, resorts, and cable television. Likewise, shares of Paramount Global, which released Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, was up only slightly.

And while Lilo & Stitch's $145 million opening weekend haul was encouraging, it's actually only the second best of the year: Minecraft, a Warner Bros. film, still holds the 2025 record at $163 million from its early April release, according to Box Office Mojo data.