Ahead of CinemaCon, Five Theater Owners Weigh in on What Hollywood Needs to Do to Spark a Moviegoing Revival
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter No, the box office hasn’t fully rebounded from COVID-19 — as evidenced by the peaks (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and valleys (“Shazam: Fury of the Gods,” “Babylon”) of the last year. But despite all of the obituaries, the movie theater industry is poised to recover. A new study even shows that revenues in 2023 will reach $32 billion, a 10% increase on earlier estimates of $29 billion. Though those aren’t pre-pandemic levels of $41 to $42 billion, the revised projections are still a relief for exhibitors. After all, they struggled to stay afloat during the darkest days of the pandemic but have emerged with a renewed confidence in one truth: watching movies from the couch is overrated.