• by Wayne Friedman , March 14, 2024

Looking to extend the reach of its high-profile Paris Olympics event this year, NBC will be offering a multi-hour-long block of daytime viewing in AMC Theaters at 160 U.S. locations.

NBC says “select” daytime hours will be sold as a ticketed event for the July 27 through August 11 dates of the Olympics.

A press announcement did provide specific details on the number of hours per day or events, or about advertising messaging during the live-in-theater showing.

Tickets will be available for purchase through AMC and Fandango this summer.

Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics, said in a release: “The afternoon broadcasts on NBC will offer many of the most compelling live moments from Paris, and we believe these gatherings will fuel overall enthusiasm for the Games.”

In recent years, AMC Theaters -- the largest U.S. theater chain -- has ramped up live and recorded sports and entertainment: This includes select NFL games, playoffs and the Super Bowl in participating theaters, as well as theater, opera, concerts, musicals, and ballet.

More recently, it scored major success with the concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” earning a record-breaking $261.7 million in global box-office revenue.

The movie was domestically released by AMC Theaters. Soon afterward, it had another musical concert success with “Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé.” 

The first major live in-theater sporting event was “The Rumble in the Jungle,” a heavyweight championship boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali that took place on October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa, the Congo (formerly known as Zaire). The fight was estimated to have grossed $100 million worldwide at the time.

Live sports was believed to be the foundation of HBO, as a premium cable TV network -- showing off the major impact of the budding cable TV business. In September 1975 it transmitted via satellite the "Thrilla in Manila heavyweight championship boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier that was held in the Philippines.