Movie-theater leaders have reason to be optimistic about the state of their industry after two years of disruption.
During last week's exhibition conference CinemaCon, Hollywood studios voiced their commitment to theatrical releases and highlighted their slates of upcoming movies.
A new survey of 2,200 US adults from the insights firm Morning Consult, published on Wednesday, also showed that comfort with going to theaters rose to 62%, a pandemic-era high.
Theaters aren't out of the woods yet, though. The US box office is still well below pre-pandemic levels (but is up 338% compared to this time last year, when theatrical releases were largely nonexistent, according to Comscore).
And US adults still rank "day-and-date" releases — as in, movies coming to theaters and streaming services at the same time — as their preferred release model, according to another Morning Consult survey published on Friday (industry leaders would push back that moviegoers, as opposed to general audiences, would prefer exclusive theatrical releases).
During the pandemic, Hollywood studios experimented with day-and-date strategies. Warner Bros. released its entire 2021 slate in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. Other studios did the same with select blockbusters, like Disney's "Black Widow."
A studio exec, who wished to remain anonymous, noted that audiences were "trained" during the pandemic to know when a movie will be available to stream, which could impact box office.
But theatrical industry leaders are convinced that day-and-date is "dead as a serious business model," according to John Fithian, the CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
"That doesn't mean that there won't be distributors that toy occasionally with that concept," Fithian told Insider. "But from what we are hearing from the studios, they are focused on their slate of movies that are intended for theaters with an exclusive window."
The coming months will be a strong indicator of whether the theatrical industry can overcome these obstacles and ride the year's early momentum. The summer movie season is packed with wannabe blockbusters like Universal's "Jurassic World: Dominion" and potential surprise hits like Warner Bros.' "Elvis."
"It's challenging to say things will be back to so-called normal across the board, but this summer certainly looks the closest the industry's been to it since 2019," said Shawn Robbins, the Box Office Pro chief analyst.
Below are the top movies that experts say could help revitalize the box office this year: