(Reuters) – Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) Holdings said the current quarter was off to a strong start driven by box-office hits such as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”, after beating second-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday.

The company’s shares rose nearly 3% in premarket trade. The stock, a hot favorite of retail investors, has risen about 26% so far this year.

“The third quarter of 2023 is off to an explosive start with “Barbie”, “Oppenheimer”, “Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”, and “Sound of Freedom”,” CEO Adam Aron said, adding that July recorded the highest ever monthly revenue for AMC.

Movie theaters have been seeing a revival in footfall after an uneven recovery from pandemic lows, thanks to a steady stream of movie releases during the year.

AMC’s second-quarter revenue rose 15.6% to $1.35 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $1.29 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The company reported a profit of 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of 12 cents per share, a year earlier.

“AMC’s glide path to eventual recovery continued with significant pace in the second quarter of 2023 as our results set new records and represent AMC’s strongest second quarter in four full years,” Aron said.

Aron added that the U.S. movie industry is 20% ahead of where it was last year and could propel even higher in the second half of the year, unless the current writers and actors strikes delay the release of movie titles into next year.

The strikes over pay in the streaming era have disrupted production of scripted series for the fall TV season and halted work on films.