After movie theaters began to open back up in earnest and new movies returned with the roll out of COVID-19 vaccinations, AMC Theatres made a splash with their big “Welcome Back” campaign for audiences. A brief ad starring Nicole Kidman watching a film inside an AMC and delivering a monologue about the magic of watching movies in a theater with an audience captivated movie goers every where, eventually resulting in plenty of memes and parodies across the internet. Now AMC has confirmed that this one-time video will be a big part of their brand for another year, signing Kidman to a renewed deal as a spokesperson.
Speaking during AMC’s Quarter 2 earnings call for 2022, company CEO Adam Aron confirmed the news, saying: “As Nicole Kidman reminds us in AMC’s now iconic and revered advertising campaign, ‘Given that Hollywood has great stories to tell. It’s clear that movie fans are ever so eager to enjoy those dazzling images on AMCs huge silver screens.’ And speaking of Nicole, our ad campaign was so effective that we signed her to be our spokesperson for another full year.”
Despite the immense popularity of the ad, Kidman herself was unware it had developed a cult following among movie fans. Speaking in a previous interview with The Playlist, the Academy Award winner opened up on how it all came about and then reacted in shock upon learning how serious some fans take the ad that plays before each AMC movie.
“Are you kidding?,” Kidman replied when told that the line “Somehow heartbreak feels good in a place like this,” is now printed it on T-shirts. Kidman’s publicist chimed in, “People have printed it out and handed it out in a theater so they could read it with you before a movie.”
“What?,” Kidman replied. “Yes. It is a thing,” The Playlist assured her. “No,” she added in disbelief. “Yes,” they replied. “What?,” she asked again. The Playlist also explained that fans were upset when the promo was cut down from a minute to 30 seconds, removing the most popular line.
“But it’s a great line, right?,” Kidman added. “It’s so true. How true is it too? … “I mean, talk about not feeling alone, sitting in a cinema with a broken heart, and then watching something that breaks your heart again, and you go, ‘I’m not alone.’ Please. This must not go away. We have to have cinema.”
Luckily it sure seems like we will.
