IMAX and other top movie theater chains will release their second-quarter earnings reports next week, and they’re expected to take a victory lap over the best business they’ve seen since the pandemic shutdown. But that windfall is set to end abruptly – more or less immediately, in fact – with no tentpole films on the release schedule for the next three months.
While it’s possible that some late summer and early fall titles will turn a profit for their studios, they are unlikely to deliver the repeated $100 million-plus openings and $300 million-plus domestic runs that theaters have enjoyed this summer.