This article includes material from HuffPost’s weekly culture and entertainment newsletter, The Culture Catchall. Click here to subscribe.
Like many aspects of life in our post-pandemic world, cinemas have yet to return to how they used to be. Audience attendance has been inconsistent, and buzzy blockbusters are few and far between. Not to mention, swift digital releases have made it incredibly convenient to watch films from the comfort of our own homes.
Five years after COVID-19 shut down much of the world, movie theaters have struggled to generate enough excitement to get audiences back into seats. That is, until two big-screen juggernauts turned the tide last month.
At the top of April, “A Minecraft Movie” delivered the first undeniable box-office smash of the year, opening to $313 million globally. Two weeks later, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” enjoyed a solid $63 million global debut, stirred mainly by the director’s viral push for an IMAX viewing experience that audiences gladly embraced. Ticket sales for the horror flick have surpassed the $100 million mark worldwide, and demand remains so high that the movie has just scheduled an IMAX 70mm re-release in select theaters from May 15 to May 21.
“Audiences have spoken and we listened,” Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. Pictures’ president of global distribution, said in a statement on Thursday. “If ever a film needed to be experienced in this incredible larger-than-life format, it’s ‘Sinners.’ Ryan has delivered a film that has been embraced by fans who appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating a film for this screen-filling format, and we wanted to give everyone the opportunity to see it — or see it again — in 70mm Imax.”
If the numbers are any indication, audiences are once again eager to embrace the movie theater experience, provided a film gives them a compelling reason to leave their couches. Especially amid inflation, consumers are already spending enough on streaming services.
Studios like Warner Bros. are riding high on the renewed enthusiasm right now, but will this wave of excitement last through the year?
That’s certainly the hope, with hyped May releases like Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” the live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” There’s also the live-action “How to Train Your Dragon,” “F1,” “M3GAN 2.0,” “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and the highly anticipated “I Know What You Did Last Summer” sequel all releasing this summer. If even a handful of these films successfully deliver at the box office, it could signal the end of a theater slump — and the beginning of a true comeback season.
“Recovery isn’t at hand,” AMC CEO Adam Aron remarked to Variety earlier this year, “but it’s just around the corner. You can reach out and almost touch it. And as good as the back half of this year looks, 2026 seems even stronger.”
What’s ahead could bring even more reasons to head back to theaters. In April, Cinema United President Michael O’Leary called for studios to commit to a 45-day baseline window for all films to be in theaters because “for most movies, the ultimate box office success and consumer demand cannot be effectively determined short of [that] window.” The previous month, Deadline reported that AMC Entertainment unveiled plans to open 40 new Dolby Cinema auditoriums across the U.S. by 2027, a strategic move to promote premium movie experiences that can only be enjoyed in theaters.
Other incentives to lure moviegoers back have been tried since the pandemic began in 2020, but they haven’t moved the needle much. Perhaps audiences will be more receptive now while interest is high. Of course, visionary movies have a lot to do with that — hence the fevered response to “Sinners” — so hopefully, Hollywood is paying close attention.
It’s evident that the appetite for theatrical experiences is still there — audiences just need good reasons to show up. Whether this is a turning point or just a fleeting moment all depends on the film industry’s next move. For the future’s sake, let’s hope they make the right one.
Subscribe to The Culture Catchall to stay up to date on all things entertainment.
Read the full article here
