Fletcher Williams, 25, watched six movies at AMC theaters last month. At full price, the tickets would have cost him about $150. His bill came to $29.99.

Williams is one of more than 1.1 million members of AMC Stubs A-List, the subscription tier that lets moviegoers reserve up to four films a week — including premium formats such as IMAX and Dolby Cinema — for a monthly fee of roughly $24 to $30, depending on the state. With audiences returning to theaters in 2026, AMC Entertainment, the largest theater chain in the United States, is counting on the program to convert occasional ticket buyers into regulars.

The open question is whether that loyalty can accomplish what a run of hit films has not yet delivered: making AMC consistently profitable while it carries roughly $4 billion in debt.

A record quarter after a long climb back

The rebound is real. AMC reported $1.60 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 14.2% from a year earlier and the highest quarterly total in the company's 106-year history. Worldwide attendance rose 13.5% to 71.3 million.

Admissions brought in $863.1 million, up 13.2%, while food and beverage sales grew 15.3% to $576.1 million. The broader industry helped: the $2.99 billion domestic box office marked the strongest second quarter in seven years, with six films opening above $75 million.

The hole AMC climbed out of was deep. Its revenue fell 77% in 2020, from $5.47 billion to $1.24 billion, as the pandemic shut theaters. As recently as early 2025, chairman and CEO Adam Aron said the industry's January-to-March domestic box office was its weakest since 1996, setting aside quarters affected by COVID.

Records have not yet translated into profits. AMC posted an $11.4 million net loss in the second quarter as interest and other charges absorbed much of the gain. For 2025, the company lost $632 million on $4.85 billion in revenue, according to Fortune's company data.

Why a flat fee changes the math

For frequent moviegoers, the arithmetic is simple. A standard adult ticket at AMC typically runs $13 to $15 before premium formats like IMAX or 3D, so a movie a week can top $65 a month in ticket costs alone.

Williams first signed up in college, when he lived 15 minutes from an AMC. Given how many films he sees, he said, "The membership basically pays for itself."

"$25 to $30 is roughly the equivalent of a single ticket for a new movie where I live. Paying that once a month for the ability to see up to 4 movies a week is incredibly worth it," said Williams, who now lives in Los Angeles.

Members could theoretically see as many as 17 films a month, but the typical member watches two or three, according to AMC. Even at that pace, most come out roughly even or ahead.

"I used to watch them casually, but after getting into film in 2024, I decided to enroll. I usually see at least 2 movies a month, and since the membership pays for itself if you do that, I've stayed subscribed," said Autumn Miller, 28, of New York City. She saw five movies last month.

AMC launched A-List in 2018, when Fortune tracked it as the company's answer to MoviePass, the unlimited-ticket service whose original flat-fee model collapsed in 2019. Membership has more than doubled over the past five years, and A-List members now account for about 20% of AMC's U.S. attendance, Aron told analysts in July. The model is no longer AMC's alone: Regal offers its Unlimited plan and Cinemark its Movie Club, making monthly subscriptions a staple of the U.S. theater business.

"We've seen significant membership growth in recent years, as movies have returned in much greater numbers to theatres, and at the end of the second quarter of 2026, A-List had grown to more than 1.1 million members," AMC spokesperson Ryan Noonan wrote in an email. "A-Listers remain among our most engaged moviegoers, regularly seeing a broad range of films at AMC. We think the continued growth of A-List speaks volumes about how much our members enjoy the program and the value they see in it."

Loyalty that shows up beyond the ticket

For some members, the subscription has reshaped how they spend on entertainment, not just how often they go out.

"I think it's changed how I approach entertainment more than anything. Instead of treating a movie as an occasional expense, I can make it a regular activity, and I'm more inclined to spend my entertainment budget on experiences I genuinely enjoy. I still have streaming services at home, but going to the theater offers something different that I can't fully replicate on my couch," said Noah Osborne, 28, of Phoenix.

"I'd say I probably spend a bit less on streaming services since I'm able to watch the movie in the theater. A-Listers also have great deals on concessions, so I'm able to save some money there too," said Sophie Guaman, 28, of New York.

That concession spending matters to AMC, which earns heavily on food and drinks. Food and beverage revenue per patron hit records in both its U.S. and international businesses in the second quarter.

Members also do some of AMC's marketing. On TikTok, subscribers post under #amctheatres, showing off their trips through the A-List priority line near the concession counter.

"The enthusiasm our members continue to show for the program has exceeded our expectations, especially in the way they talk about A-List, both online and with their family and friends," Noonan wrote.

The debt test for A-List

In October, AMC completed a $3.97 billion refinancing that pushed almost all of its debt maturities to 2031 and 2033 and, the company said, lowered its cost of capital. The deal buys time. It does not shrink the roughly $4 billion AMC owes.

That is the real test for A-List. A program that brings in a fifth of U.S. attendance can keep seats filled between blockbusters. Whether it can generate enough steady cash to help pay down debt is a different question.

The next read comes with AMC's third-quarter report, covering July through September: whether attendance held after a record spring, and whether a bigger, more loyal audience starts to show up on the bottom line. An updated A-List membership count should be part of that read, given the company has disclosed the figure with its recent quarterly results.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.