Seriously, how many times does moviegoing have to stare down those endless cries that it’s doomed? Doomed! Doomed because of radio or television or the VCR or DVD or video games or TikTok or streaming! Or doomed because the industry pundits and mainstream media decides the pandemic magically changed the audiences (which set box office records in the United States and globally in 2019) into homebodies!

For anyone who needs more proof in this post-Barbenheimer world that people are ready – no, EAGER – to go to the movies, last weekend obliged. 

The April 25 – April 27 weekend was a blockbuster, with four different movies grossing more than USD $20 million at the North American box office. Those four hot properties? “A Minecraft Movie” in its fourth weekend at USD $22.7 million, the twentieth anniversary release of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” tacking on an additional USD $25.5 million, the USD $24.5 million opening of “The Accountant 2” and last but most certainly not least, the phenomenal USD $45.7 million second weekend of “Sinners.” 

Four movies grossing USD $20 million or more in April? That’s never happened before in history. Four movies grossing USD $20 million in January, February, March or April? That hasn’t happened in the first four months of the year since 2018. And it only happened then because we adjusted for inflation. 

For the record, that was the weekend of March 16-18, 2018, when the four movies topping the charts were “Black Panther” at USD $26.6 million, “Tomb Raider” at USD $23.6 million, “I Can Only Imagine” at USD $17.1 million and “A Wrinkle in Time” at USD $16.2 million. Adjust for inflation and “I Can Only Imagine” earned the equivalent of USD $21.7 million in 2025 and “A Wrinkle In Time” earned USD $20.7 million.

More records from this past weekend? “Sinners” had the second smallest drop (4.8%) of an R-rated movie, ever. It had the smallest drop for a movie grossing more than USD $40m in its opening week since the first “Avatar” release. You know, “Avatar”? The highest grossing movie of all time? It is the first horror movie to get a perfect rating from audiences on CinemaScore. Ever. 

Worldwide, “Sinners” did even better. In its opening week, the film grossed USD $62 million globally. After its second week that gross had skyrocketed by USD $101 million worldwide. That’s an increase of more than 50% globally and no, it didn’t open in any more territories. (“Sinners” still has 40% of the world to open in, though more than 20% of that includes China and the rest are probably less amenable to a period horror film than the markets it already opened in. But still, that’s a lot of potential growth, even though China is iffy at best right now.) 

“Sinners” captivated people all week. I saw it on IMAX on a Tuesday afternoon. The auditorium was almost full, the audience pin-drop quiet and when the credits rolled… they broke into applause. That’s the magic of movie-going. You think anyone would have burst into applause if they saw it alone on their couch? Director Ryan Coogler proved himself again and again (and again) with two “Black Panthers” and “Creed.” And despite the mainstream media debate over his deal on the film, he deserved everything he could negotiate with Warner Bros. when launching a boldly original period horror flick. And the studio executives who rolled the dice on it deserve everything they get, such as an extension on their contracts rather than persistent trade rumours of their imminent defenestration. (Especially should the next “Superman” deliver.) 

These were the same executives who helped oversee the release of “A Minecraft Movie,” which launched a new franchise on its way toward a USD $1 billion gross worldwide.

As if two hit movies from Warner Bros. weren’t enough to demonstrate the value of a theatrical release, how about a 20-year-old film providing real-time proof that moviegoing is not obsolete? I’m looking fondly at you, “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” It grossed USD $42 million worldwide despite the fact that anyone who subscribes to Disney+ can watch it anytime they want at home. And anyone who isn’t a Disney+ subscriber can rent it for USD $4 anytime they want. And yet, despite Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos declaring movie theatres outdated for most people earlier in the week, fans happily did the Imperial March all the way to cinemas to watch it. Why? Because movies are more fun with an audience. 

“The Accountant 2”  is the only one of the four that might not prove a financial winner. But hey, it’s a sequel and audiences showed up for opening weekend. The original was a B-movie with an A-list star in Ben Affleck. It cost USD $44 million to make and grossed USD $155 million. The sequel cost USD $80 million because that’s what happens when you have an unexpected hit. The accountants – you know, the real ones that rule Hollywood without wielding automatic weapons – may keep this film in the red but when all is said and done, everyone will be fine. But “The Accountant 3” may be a stretch unless business picks up. 

And just to keep the records rolling, the Easter-themed animated movie “The King of Kings” became the highest grossing Korean film ever in North America when it hit USD $54.7 million, passing the USD $53.8 million of Oscar winner “Parasite.” 

You want more good news? While the Star Wars movie did great, perhaps Pink Floyd did even better by grossing USD $6 million worldwide for a 50 year old film which – as far as I can tell – never made that much money in all of its previous releases combined. It may be the canniest distribution move of the year so far. 

The oddball 1972 concert film has been released and re-released in umpteen different versions over the years, so who expected pent-up demand? Not me. Indeed, “Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII” was shot before the band burst into superstardom with its blockbuster album “The Dark Side of the Moon.” It captures them performing in an empty, albeit grand, public space. So no audience, no classic songs familiar to anyone but hardcore fans (I mean, really hardcore fans), no cheering, nothing. The smart move here? Programming limited screenings; just one or two showings per location per day over the entire weekend. Focusing on IMAX when possible. Some 70% of the grosses in North America came from IMAX. When audiences did go see the movie, it was usually with a packed crowd of fellow Pink Floyd fans, no jokes about visits to the local planetarium needed. 

If you think grossing USD $2 million in North America and USD $6 million worldwide for a 50 year old concert film is hardly worth mentioning, you’re not an exhibitor. Cinema operators were delighted to see crowds heading to the movies for a specific showtime, buying popcorn and soda, enjoying terrific image and sound that outclasses even the best home entertainment set-up and watching a classic rock band near its creative peak. You can bet the audience told their friends later what a great time they had at the movies. 

Here are the facts. Movies are more ubiquitous and more accessible than ever. You can watch them on demand. You can access cable channels bursting with movies. You can subscribe to streamers like Max and Netflix and Paramount+ with loads of movies. And yet, people still love going to the theatre. 

In the modern era (from the 1970s to today), movie-going has generally kept pace with population growth. Ticket sales may have slowed down a titch in the last decade even before the pandemic, though not radically so. Exhibition is a mature business, so people won’t suddenly start going to the movies every week again like it’s the 1930s. However it’s a healthy, steady business, bringing in tens of billions of dollars around the world, driving ancillary distribution on VOD, streamers, cable and even home video. 

The record grosses right before the pandemic (both in the US and worldwide) were not because of higher ticket prices, not when you adjust for inflation. They were because people go to the movies. A lot. The rough estimates of ticket sales and the USD $10 billion to nearly USD $12 billion annually we saw in North America from 2016 to 2019 were no fluke. And the good times will return to movie theatres as soon as the movies do. This past weekend proved they don’t even need to be new movies.

In 2024, wide releases in North America were down about 25% from the average we saw from 2016-2019. And the box office was down… about 25%. The current year has seen all sorts of profitable films from the big budget “Minecraft” to the mid-sized “Sinners” and “Dog Man” to small budget films like “Babygirl,” “Presence,” “The King of Kings” and “The Monkey.” We’ve even seen episodes from the TV show “The Chosen” pull in crowds. We’ve seen a “Led Zeppelin” doc raking it in. And if they’d only released “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy” in North America, we would have seen a giant rom-com hit just like the rest of the world did with that title. 

Does anyone think “A Minecraft Movie” would be more popular or even just as popular if it went straight to the Warner Bros. streamer Max? Does anyone think Disney is dumb to open “Thunderbolts*” in movie theatres around the world and keep it there for two months, at least? Can anyone name a Netflix movie that could be reissued in movie theatres and make USD $42 million on opening weekend? I don’t know about USD $42 million, but would Sandra Bullock’s “Bird Box” draw fans if it played in movie theatres come Halloween? You know what, it might! Give it a shot, Netflix! 

It takes all kinds of movies to have a great cinemagoing weekend like the one we just experienced. It takes all kinds of movies to have a great year, not just low budget horror films and big budget tentpoles. With smart scheduling and a healthy mix of all types of genres and budgets, the box office will absolutely return to the heady days of USD $10 billion+ plus years. 

Why do I know this? Because audiences have returned to every other sort of outing as soon as they became available. Audiences returned to live theatre. (Every house on Broadway is hosting a show and the box office is setting records.) Audiences returned to live sporting events. Stadiums are full. Audiences returned to live concerts. And when Hollywood offers a diverse and exciting mix of films as it did last weekend, audiences return to the movies. 

Indeed, they never went away. Only the movies did. So keep ‘em coming.