AMC spikes 22% as theater operator says latest 'Spider-Man' film set box-office records for December

• AMC stock jumped as much as 22% on Friday.
• The theater chain said that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" set box office records for a December release.

AMC stock rose as much as 22% on Friday after the theater chain said that the latest "Spider-Man" movie set box office records for a December release.

Shares were trading at $29.40, up 20%, as of 12:41 p.m. ET, after hitting an intraday high of $29.85 earlier.

In a statement on Friday, the company said that 1.1 million viewers attended the release of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" at its theaters, setting an all-time record for ticket sales for a film released in December.

The latest entry in the superhero franchise "was the single highest grossing movie title on its opening night in AMC's history, for a movie opening in the month of December."

The opening narrowly fell short of "Avengers: Endgame", which was the best ever opening for the theater chain when it debuted in April 2019.

The record-setting release for the theater also comes as the new coronavirus variant poses headwinds to companies operating businesses reliant on customer foot traffic. AMC was among the group of companies hit hardest in the early days of the pandemic lockdowns. The Omicron variant is infecting an average of 140,000 people daily in the US over a seven-day period.

AMC stock has had a wild ride in 2021, coming just behind GameStop as the second-most popular meme stock over the course of the year and soaring 1,200% year to date. In contrast to the video game retailer however, AMC has been eager to interact with its legion of diehard retail investors.

CEO Adam Aron — sometimes affectionately known as "Silverback" among Wall Street Bets posters — has regularly interacted with investors over social media and has polled them on Twitter on issues including whether the company should accept cryptocurrencies as payment.