Box-Office Revenue Seen Plunging 50% Due to Coronavirus Closures

Box-office revenue reportedly could plunge about 50% because of movie-theater closures sparked by the coronavirus pandemic’s economic lockdowns.

Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson LLC predicts that revenues from ticket sales will be cut in half, falling 52% from $11.4 billion in 2019 to $5.5 billion in 2020, Variety reported. The drop that could be even steeper if cinemas don’t reopen in July and a slate of summer blockbusters aren’t released.

“Given the uncertainty around the key questions we mention above, including sticking to July release dates, when key markets reopen and willingness of movie-goers to return before a vaccine, our estimates today are very much a work in process with lots of volatility in the months ahead,” the note’s authors write.

The analysts are predicting “a significant bounce back” in 2021 to $9.7 billion, which they attribute to “a stronger release slate,” Variety reported.

However, they warned that this number could also fall lower if film production can’t resume safely and if studios begin putting more of their movies on streaming services or on-demand, Variety said. It still lags behind the numbers that the box office put up in 2019 before coronavirus upended society, Variety said.

Meanwhile, the drive-in movie, dismissed by many as a relic of an earlier time in America, is making a comeback as entertainment seemingly designed for the coronavirus era.

The drive-in has struck a chord with Americans who have been largely confined to their homes since March watching the death toll from COVID-19 accumulate on their TV screens, Reuters explained.

The drive-in experience is virtually tailor-made for the pandemic. Patrons control their close social interactions and any contact with other people happens outdoors, which is seen as lower risk for infection than indoors.

John Stefanopoulos, whose family owns the Four Brothers Drive-In in Amenia, New York and an adjacent restaurant, sees a chance for the industry, which has shrunk by some 90% from a peak decades ago, to grow out of the crisis. He has received inquiries about developing drive-in theaters from England, Ireland and across the United States.