AMC Entertainment shares are down more than 16% before the opening bell after the nation’s biggest theater chain said it might sell up to $250 million-worth of stock, citing a low first-quarter box office.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds, if any, from the sale “to bolster liquidity, to repay, refinance, redeem or repurchase its existing indebtedness (including expenses, accrued interest and premium, if any) and for general corporate purposes.”

Reasons for the offering, it said, are to enhance “liquidity in light of the low first quarter box office, resulting in part as previously disclosed from” Hollywood strikes last year, as well as “increased seasonal working capital requirements, and the resulting cash burn the Company has experienced.”

The shares are bouncing premarket but are down about 15% from yesterday’s close at $3.69.

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