A trio of hit films in “Wicked,” “Gladiator II” and “Moana 2” have powered the U.S. box office to an astounding $680 million in ticket sales between Nov. 22 and Dec. 1. But exhibitors are expecting that to be a prologue to a bigger 2025, which is why several top chains are planning to spend a combined $2.2 billion to give thousands of theaters a much-needed overhaul.
National chains AMC and Regal, as well as Texas-based Santikos Entertainment, are among the chains that plan to spend on upgrades to their physical theaters and ticketing infrastructure. Get ready for more recliners, larger screens, more laser projectors and shorter lines for popcorn.
AMC will be introducing a new, chain-exclusive premium format called AMC XL, to 50-100 of its 660 U.S. locations next year with long-term plans to introduce the format in as many as 250 of its cineplexes nationwide. It’s part of AMC’s plans to spend between $1 billion and $1.5 billion over the next four to seven years updating its American and European circuits.
Regal Cinemas secured $250 million in capital for renovations in July, with a particular focus on updating its ticketing app, adding more recliner seats to their theaters and upgrading projectors. It also refinanced a $1.9 billion loan facility, saving the chain $60 million in interest.
“Regal had a lot of deferred maintenance, and it was clear that we needed to improve our theaters,” Eduardo Acuna, CEO of Regal’s parent company Cineworld Group, told TheWrap. “We are already moving on updating several locations, and while the rollout of the work we have planned with this $250 million in capital will take several years, we will have some of the first renovations completed towards the end of Q1 next year.”
Acuna said acquiring renovation capital was one of his top priorities when he joined the company last year following Cineworld’s bankruptcy and restructuring.
In North America, eight of the top 10 movie circuits will be investing a combined $2.2 billion in multiyear renovations and updates to their cinemas, the National Association of Theater Owners announced earlier this fall. As 2025 gets nearer, plans for how these updates will become reality are taking shape.
It’s part of a campaign first touted in April by NATO CEO Michael O’Leary at the organization’s trade show, CinemaCon. He called on investors to provide capital for exhibitors to renovate theaters throughout the country.
“Our industry has historically [run on] being able to create great experiences and making them want to come back, ” O’Leary told TheWrap. “Now, there’s so much competition for the public’s time and money that it requires us to up our game, and that in turn requires an infusion of capital.”
The strong finish to 2024 has given movie theater owners more confidence that it will lead into a multiyear box office resurgence free of the release delays that have plagued the industry the past three years. With a wider variety of films offering the chance to bring back infrequent moviegoers, theaters want to make sure they have the best experience possible to increase the likelihood they will return for new films rather than wait until they land on streaming.
Many of the major chains are using capital investments to fund their renovations, rather than leaning on quarterly revenue, which has been far less stable in recent years than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year’s production delays led Hollywood to release fewer films this year, making exhibitors more vulnerable to an underperforming film like “Joker: Folie a Deux” — which was outgrossed in October by “The Wild Robot” and “Venom: The Last Dance” with just $58 million domestic — forcing a theater chain to recalibrate its planned expenditures.
“‘Joker 2′ got a lot of people nervous,” Santikos COO Rob Lehman told TheWrap. “We were in the midst of making our projections for next year, and the low numbers for that film gave some of the guys on our team pause. We just had to step back and remember that there’s always going to be films that misfire and films that surprise in a good way, and we still think that on the whole we are looking at continued improvement in turnout in the years to come.”
Santikos Theaters plans to focus on major updates to 17 new locations it acquired last year from its purchase of fellow regional chain Southern Theaters.
“We are looking at ways to improve the concessions, so our customers will be seeing more Coca-Cola self-serve fountains and grab-and-go stands so that they’ll spend less time in lines,” Lehman said. “We’ve also found that there’s been a lot of deterioration of the seats from all the disinfectant we had to apply after screenings for COVID protection, so we will be looking to update them as well.”
Several exhibitors told TheWrap that they expect the 2025 domestic box office to rise to at least $9.5 billion — with a chance to cross $10 billion if several films over perform. That’s still short of the $11.3 billion grossed in 2019 — $14 billion after inflation adjustment — but an improvement over the $8.9 billion recorded in 2023.
The success of films like “Barbie” and “Top Gun: Maverick” have proven theaters are nowhere near dying. And hits like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” show that with the right film, the supposedly theater-averse Gen Z will buy tickets. But the years ahead will show just how much the cultural shifts brought by the pandemic and technology have diminished the financial power of exhibitors, as well as how much a full release slate can restore it.
With more frequent releases catering to different tastes, exhibitors are hoping for more consistent moviegoer turnout. Depending on how the latter half of the year shakes out on the release slate front, theaters should face fewer periods where they are waiting for a major tentpole to rejuvenate declining grosses.
“From our talks with studios, there are several who have said that they want to release more films theatrically than they are right now,” Acuna said. “So we expect the volume of films to only increase in the years to come, and that’s why we’re so confident that 2026 will be better than 2025, and 2027 will be better than 2026.”
Controlling rowdy moviegoers
The most common complaint about moviegoing is one that exhibitors have less control over than sound and picture quality or concession service or cleanliness: disruptive audiences.
Last week, a viral social media post asking “Wicked” attendees to share pictures of the film they took in the theater was met with a slew of replies fulfilling that request as well as condemnations from others angry that use of cell phones in theaters was being encouraged.
Not having to worry about distracting audience members is one of the commonly cited advantages of watching movies at home, and combating those disruptive moviegoers is something O’Leary said exhibitors have discussed.
“From a business perspective, it is a very difficult thing to quantify, but it is a complaint we hear about,” he said. “We have talked about having ushers check during screenings for disruptions and making a conscious effort to tamp it down whenever we see it, because we know that a single bad experience can really affect one’s willingness to come back.”
