- Title: Tom Cruise, Superman and 'Avatar' hold keys to 2025 box office
- Date: 21st March 2025
- Summary: NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES (MARCH 19, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOX OFFICE THEORY FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF MOVIE ANALYTICS AT FANDANGO, WHEN ASKED IF COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND STRIKES STILL IMPACTING BOX OFFICE, SHAWN ROBBINS, SAYING: “The pandemic and streaming irrevocably changed movie going in a lot of ways that won't ever go back to the way they were. H
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: "AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH" 2025 BOX OFFICE CINEMA FANTASTIC FOUR FILMS MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING OUTLOOK SUPERMAN WICKED PART II ZOOTOPIA 2
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: US
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,North America
- Reuters ID: LVA00E882014032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: 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 movie 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, moviegoing has not fully rebounded.
Box office receipts totaled $8.6 billion last year in the United States and Canada, 25% 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."
Top names in the movie business will gather at the annual CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas early next month to talk about the state of the industry.
The conference draws executives from Hollywood studios and multiplex operators such as AMC Entertainment, Cinemark and Cineworld as well as owners of single theaters in small towns.
At the Academy Awards this month, "Anora" filmmaker and best director winner Sean Baker delivered a "battle cry" for filmmakers, distributors and audiences to support theaters.
Shawn Robbins, founder of Box Office Theory and director of movie analytics at Fandango, said that while the pandemic and streaming had changed movie going, film fans still wanted to go out to see "an event film".
"They want to see it with friends and family. That part hasn't changed. It's been the more lower to middle range films that are a little more hit and miss to a degree that was not as consistently the case before pandemic and streaming and shorter theatrical windows (are) also a part of that conversation," he said.
Among the big hitters coming to theaters this year are "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," a movie that may be Cruise's last appearance in the long-running action franchise. "One last time," he says in the trailer.
The film will debut over the U.S. 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" movie directed by "Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker James Gunn and starring David Corenswet.
From Marvel, the anti-hero team "Thunderbolts" will kick off the summer moviegoing 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 movie of all time, and the second movie ranks third.
Robbins projected 2025 would end with a slight increase in domestic box office receipts compared with last year, targeting around $9 billion.
Richards said he believed the new "Avatar" would kick off "an extraordinary three to five years" for cinemas.
"We're going to see (Avatar) as the tipping point," Richards said. "2026 has got an extraordinary number of great films."
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