5 Questions Facing a Post-Pandemic Film Industry1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe movie business is ready to shake off 2020 and the world-shattering pandemic that fundamentally altered the way films are made, distributed and enjoyed. But before the box office can roar back to life, there are still major issues that Hollywood is grappling with, involving everything from cinemas’ red-ink-filled balance sheets to the evolution of studios’ comic book universes.
Here are five big questions facing the film industry as it looks to turn the page on an annus horribilis.
Can movie theaters stay solvent?
AMC, Cineworld and, to a lesser extent, Cinemark, piled on the debt in recent years as they acquired competitors and tore up theaters to replace old seats with luxury recliners. That left them with a smaller rainy day fund when the deluge of misfortune that was coronavirus hit last spring. AMC has already warned investors that it needed an additional $750 million to avoid filing for bankruptcy this year, while Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the U.S., shut down locations in the Europe and North America as a way of staving off insolvency. Smaller, independently owned theaters that aren’t publicly traded are also facing closure, though they may get some federal help from Save Our Stages, which the big chains won’t be eligible to receive. With the vaccine rollout so far going slower than expected, can movie theaters keep afloat until moviegoing comes back in a big way? The smart money is that at least one of these chains will find themselves in Chapter 11 unless the situation starts improving fast.
Image Credit: Universal
