Box office promises big hits in the year ahead
The first Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time. Photo: File
Tom Cruise takes on what may be his final Mission: Impossible, a new Superman will wear the red cape, and the record-setting Avatar sci-fi series will return to theaters this year.
Those films and more are giving cinema operators hope that the long recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue in 2025. Five years after the start of the health crisis, filmgoing has not fully rebounded.
Box office receipts totaled $8.6 billion last year in the United States and Canada, 25 per cent below the pre-pandemic heights of $11.4 billion in 2019. The film industry was disrupted again in 2023 when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike.
"That complex matrix of filmmaking, where everyone wants the best talent and the best actors and the best sets, it takes a long time to get that running again," said Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Europe's Vue Cinemas. "2025 is going to feel the tail end of that."
Shawn Robbins, Director of Movie Analytics at Fandango and founder and owner of Box Office Theory, said the film business was adjusting to "a new normal."
"Event movies are increasingly drivers of the business," Robbins said. "There's even more weight on their shoulders in terms of box office dollars."
Filmgoers still turn out for big-budget films, Robbins said, but have shown they are happy to wait to watch others at home.
"It is very common knowledge that a lot of movies will be available to stream within three to eight weeks, whereas it used to be a minimum of three months," he said.
Amongst the big hitters, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, will debut over the US Memorial Day weekend in May, along with Walt Disney's live-action version of animated classic Lilo & Stitch.
Brad Pitt plays a Formula 1 driver in the June release F1, and in July, Warner Bros will release its new Superman film starring David Corenswet.
From Marvel, the anti-hero team Thunderbolts will kick off the summer filmgoing season in early May, followed by The Fantastic Four in late July.
Around the November and December holidays, offerings include the second part of musical box office phenomenon Wicked, animated sequel Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in James Cameron's Avatar series. The first Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time, and the second film ranks third.
Robbins projected 2025 would end with a slight increase in domestic box office receipts compared with last year, "maybe flirting with $9 billion." He said it is unclear when ticket sales will return to pre-pandemic levels.
"We're going to see (Avatar) as the tipping point," Richards said. "2026 has got an extraordinary number of great films." Reuters
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