Tom, Superman, Avatar key to 2025

Tom Cruise takes on what may be his final Mission: Impossible, a new Superman will wear the red cape and the record-setting Avatar sci-fi series will return to movie theatres this year.

- LISA RICHWINE

Those films and more are giving cinema operators hope that the long recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will continue in 2025. Five years after the start of the health crisis, moviegoing has not fully rebounded.

Box office receipts totalled US$8.6 billion (292 billion baht) last year in the United States and Canada, 25% below the pre-pandemic heights of $11.4 billion in 2019.

The film industry was disrupted again in 2023 when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike.

“That complex matrix of filmmaking, where everyone wants the best talent and the best actors and the best sets, it takes a long time to get that running again,” said Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Europe’s Vue Cinemas. “2025 is going to feel the tail end of that”

Top names in the movie business will gather at the annual CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas early next month to talk about the state of the industry.