Heading into the weekend, Americans have one more option in terms of possible evening activities, as some of the largest movie theater chains in the country are firing up the popcorn machines again. AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain, opened more than 100 locations on Thursday, with other major chains such as Regal Cinemas also returning this weekend or having reopened last week (Cinemark).
It will be a tentative return for the industry that has been hit incredibly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it remains yet to be seen whether reduced prices and the usual safety measures will convince people to return to indoor theaters in the middle of a pandemic. The fact that theaters have few new movies to show won’t make the long-awaited cinematic comeback any easier.
As the following chart, based on data from industry tracker Box Office Mojo shows, box office earnings are creeping up ever so slowly from the deep hole created by the shutdowns due to the coronavirus. For the past two weeks, North American theaters made more than $1 million at the box office for the first time since the pandemic hit in mid-March. That, however, is still miniscule compared to pre-pandemic earnings, which averaged above $150 million per week this year.
This chart shows weekly box office earnings in the North America in 2020.
