Are the theaters back in business? After the mediocre opening weekend for the highly anticipated “Cruella,” nature seems to be healing. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” racked in almost $60 million globally. This is only one week after “A Quiet Place Part II” was released which has since racked up over $130 million.
Theaters have been struggling since long before the pandemic began, so these numbers are a promising outlook on the fate of one of America’s most beloved past times. Between the age of streaming services, global pandemics, and suburbanization, movie theaters have been in a precarious position for decades.
Movie lovers will be happy to see that two consecutive weekends showed promising numbers for these major blockbusters. Furthermore, this month is certainly exciting for horror fans, with two solid sequels to beloved modern horror classics being released.
What is more impressive is that “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do it” is currently available for no extra charge on HBO Max. It seems many moviegoers are still dedicated to tradition — and probably just happy to get out of the house. As coronavirus restrictions loosen, theaters could return to their historic prowess.
It was certainly a difficult year, and many great theaters have shut down, but hopefully we are on the brink of a major rebound. One thing is for sure: if we want to keep our theaters around, we have to keep going to our theaters.
