Are we at Peak Movie Theater?

On paper, last weekend shouldn’t have been any great shakes for movie theater attendance. Audiences were offered, respectively, the second weekend of an African American-targeted horror picture; the fourth weekend of a video game spin-off; the re-release of the final George Lucas Star Wars picture, Revenge of the Sith, which has somehow turned 20 this year; and the major new release of the week, the sequel to the Ben Affleck vehicle The Accountant, which was only modestly successful upon its original release in 2016. None of these should have been particularly notable, and the weekend might have been expected to be another grim disappointment. 

Well, this has not happened. In fact, the four films mentioned grossed nearly $150 million at the box office between them over the weekend: the single biggest amount for an April weekend since before the pandemic. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which only a few weeks ago was felt to be a big, near-existential risk for the executives at Warner Brothers who had commissioned it, is an equally big, bona fide hit, amply justifying the faith that the studio placed in the Black Panther director’s original film. We all know about the mad love that children are bringing for Minecraft – crucially, it’s a sector of society that’s largely not been going to theaters by themselves in recent years, preferring to binge on YouTube and TikTok at home – but it’s also fascinating to see that Revenge of the Sith can still bring in $25 million when it’s available to view at home on Disney+ for no additional cost. And finally Ben Affleck’s often written off as a walking meme (“Sad Ben”) but The Accountant 2 has made an impressive $24.4 million because of, rather than despite, its star.

Just a few weeks ago, I was bemoaning the demise of adult-focused movies after the excellent Black Bag flopped. Sinners, however, is nothing if not aimed at grown-ups – the vampiric mayhem doesn’t get going until halfway through, which means that the audience are there for the charisma of its star Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, as well as the prowess of Coogler, who is rapidly turning into an auteur to be reckoned with in the Christopher Nolan vein. And much as any cinephile might be bemused by Minecraft, it offers a hyper-caffeinated appeal that is no less worthy of exhibition than any more serious-minded picture. It’ll probably make a billion dollars by the time it finishes its run; not a number to be sniffed at. 

This summer is, in truth, not the greatest when it comes to blockbusters. SAG and WGA strikes have meant that the biggest releases (Avengers and The Odyssey and Spider-Man and the like) will be coming out next year, rather than this one. The blockbusters that are most keenly anticipated in 2025 are the last installment in the Mission: Impossible series (which is potentially compromised both by its near three-hour length and the fact that it’s the sequel to a picture, Dead Reckoning, that underachieved significantly) and the dire-looking Superman film, which is designed to launch the James Gunn regime at DC Studios with a bang. Everything that has been shown so far in the marketing has lowered expectations dramatically, but who knows – perhaps it may yet be a winner. 

I don’t go to the movie theater half as often as I used to, and I regret this. Truth is, there’s nothing much out most weekends that makes me want to pay my $15 and take my place in the stalls. But it isn’t as if prestige television is currently overdelivering, either. Save the glorious Andor (skip Revenge of the Sith and watch that instead), there hasn’t been anything really exciting to stream in aeons. The White Lotus underdelivered significantly, Severance remains niche cult viewing and even the excellent Black Mirror hasn’t captured the zeitgeist the way that it used to. Audiences are bored of the familiar and want new stimulation on the big screen. We’ve been told that the movie theater is dying more times that I can remember, and I’m sure that, when there’s the next big flop, we’ll hear that requiem sung all over again. But the numbers don’t lie. Even if you don’t know your chicken jockey from your Sith Lord, people are going back to theaters, at last. And that should be worth celebrating.