Despite dwindling movie ticket sales last year in light of more eclectic streaming options and illegal downloads, it looks like theaters will be able to bounce back from this. Jack Black can throw all the shade he wants at the Oscars about "the screens in our jeans," but 2015 is projected to be a major year for movie theaters. In fact, if predictions deliver truth, then it could be as big of a year as 2013 when the likes of Frozen and Catching Fire hit the big screen.
According to The Washington Post, analysts are expecting box-office revenue to break the record set in 2013, which was $10.9 billion. Why? If you think about it, 2015 is packed with blockbusters.
Star Wars: Episode 7 is all but guaranteed to make some major dough for theaters. It’s the first installment of the brand new trilogy, is directed by Star Trek movie vet J.J. Abrams, and features a bevy of new and returning faces of the Star Wars universe. 2015 also a major year for superhero movies. Though we have to wait until 2016 for Batman v Superman, we’ll get to see the highly anticipated Avengers sequel, Paul Rudd suited up as Ant-Man in his standalone movie, and the Josh Trank-directed Fantastic Four reboot, the trailer for which is already pretty badass. In addition, we also have the return of the Terminator and Mad Max franchises, the finale to the Hunger Games series, new installments of Mission: Impossible and Fast and Furious, and the return of Jurassic Park.
Before any of this even happens, the box office is already performing above average. In January and February alone, Oscar-nominated American Sniper and the BDSM love story Fifty Shades of Grey broke major records. These beginner months are considered graveyards that are littered with the bones of failed films, but these titles emerged from the muck to make gold. Both were highly controversial films. The former, about the gunned down Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, caused some controversy. And the latter caused quite the stir as well, both domestically and internationally, for its graphic sexual content and spotlight on the secretive world of dominant-submissive relationships. As The Post notes, Sniper and Fifty Shades fed off of this chatter, which was bolstered by social media, to drive even more interest.
According to the report, these early projections for the year’s box-office results have prompted shareholders to invest in the country’s major theater chains, including AMC Entertainment (it’s stock is up 24%), Carmike Cinemas (up 18%), Cinemark (up 17%) and Regal Entertainment Group (up 11%). Though these are still early projections, there’s a lot to look forward to this year, so start saving your money.
