This year is likely to be a washout for Hollywood, unless movie lovers put their fears aside and are tempted back into theaters by a crush of blockbusters.
Movie theaters are used to screening nail-biting endings, but are they now looking at their own?
Theaters have been shuttered since mid-March, and in the months since the curtain came down, thousands of theater staffers have been furloughed or laid off, rent on cineplexes has gone unpaid, and movie studios have canned premieres for their multimillion-dollar productions.
While box office receipts have hovered at a healthy $11 billion for North America for the past five years, analysts predict that ticket sales will plunge to $5.5 billion in 2020 — a 52 percent decline — according to MoffettNathanson, a media research company. AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain, said last week that it had “substantial doubt” that it could continue its operations for an extended period.
Read more:https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/will-people-ever-go-movies-again-n1201136