Coming out of the pandemic, movie theaters have been awaiting this new era where people would return to theaters, and they are doing so – somewhat. There are those titles boasting massive box office figures on par with those from the pre-COVID era – “Avatar: The Way of the Water,” “Maverick,” and “Barbie” leap to the fore – but the balance of the film market is still in flux. Unless it is an event picture there is a real challenge to get audiences excited and arriving.
This slate of titles that bear a huge loss in the red-ink column faced a number of challenges leading to failure. Audience resistance, a poor economy, and the ever-evolving streaming market meant that unless there was a real reason to go out to a cineplex, people were content to ride out the calendar until titles arrived on their streaming service. Then, add in the actors’ strike taking place all…
