AMC Entertainment shares soared nearly 27% today after a blockbuster showing for "The Odyssey" and a strong earnings report signaled that the movies have completed a journey of their own — back from the brink.

• Why it matters: The pandemic bludgeoned the movie theater industry and triggered the bankruptcies of multiple chains, while the surge of streaming services threatened to deal the final blow.

💸 Driving the news: AMC this morning reported a 14% increase in revenue in the second quarter and $104 million in adjusted net earnings, up from a small loss a year earlier.

• 🍿 The chain also said more than 4.3 million people saw movies at its theaters worldwide Thursday through Sunday — including many who attended Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," which hauled in $124 million domestically.
• The film enjoyed the best opening weekend box office showing for an R-rated movie at AMC since 2024.

Reality check: Recent box-office disappointments have served as a reminder that the movies are still engaged in a fistfight for people's attention.

• Disney's live-action version of the animated "Moana" is expected to lose $100 million–$125 million after a disappointing showing at the box office, Deadline reported.

📽️ What's next: AMC hopes to capitalize on next week's release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and multiple holiday blockbusters, including "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Dune: Part Three."

Go deeper

Taco Bell foot traffic is plunging as the fast-food chain deals with an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, which can involve explosive diarrhea.

Zoom in: Foot traffic at the chain plunged 18.9% Friday versus the average Friday from the first half of the year, according to Placer.ai, as headlines blared about the company's decision to pull lettuce from its U.S. locations.

• 🥬 Customers also shied away from other lettuce-selling chains, with a 14.3% drop at Chopt, 6.9% at Chipotle, 6.6% at Panera and 4.2% at CAVA, according to Placer.ai.

The latest: Taylor Farms, which supplied the lettuce to Taco Bell, said today that the FDA had "made a mistake" with a "false positive" over the weekend on a sample of its lettuce originating in central Mexico.

• But the FDA said the false positive "DOES NOT change the basis for FDA's ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data" linking Taylor Farms lettuce to the outbreak.

⛑️ The bottom line: Cyclosporiasis cases continue to mount, with more than 6,100 now reported in Michigan alone.

🐺 Colossal Biosciences, the de-extinction company seeking to re-create the dire wolf and wooly mammoth, is in talks to raise new money at a valuation of at least $20 billion. (Axios)

🛑 A federal judge has paused Paramount Skydance's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery in response to a lawsuit last week from a dozen state attorneys general looking to block the deal on antitrust grounds. (Axios)

🍕 Domino's recorded a same-store sales increase of only 0.1% in the U.S. as low- and middle-income consumers look to save on food. (Bloomberg)

The alcoholic drink industry is hoping that smaller packages will help turn around sales.

🥃 State of play: Mini booze bottles from the likes of Jameson maker Pernod Ricard, Patrón owner Bacardi Limited and Kendall Jenner's 818 Tequila are growing increasingly popular, CNN reports.

• The fastest-growing segment in the market is brandy and tequila in 50-mL bottles, the size of a standard shot, and 375-mL tequila and cordials, CNN reports, citing NIQ data from Bump Williams Consulting.

Zoom in: The typical bottle of alcohol is 700 mL to 750 mL.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: With people drinking less than ever — and the temporary boozy boon of the World Cup now over — beer and liquor companies need all the help they can get.