{"id":265663,"date":"2026-04-13T15:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265663\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:05:07","slug":"hollywood-leaders-theater-owners-gather-at-cinemacon-at-a-critical-time-in-the-industry-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265663\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood leaders, theater owners gather at CinemaCon at a critical time in the industry | Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of theatrical moviegoing is at a critical moment. More people have been going to movie theaters<\/a> this year than last, but the foundation is delicate.<\/p>\n

Annual domestic box-office grosses are still down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels, competition from streaming has only intensified and there are very real worries about what consolidation might mean for the release schedule as Warner Bros. stares down new ownership<\/a> under Paramount.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s under these precarious conditions that Hollywood executives and movie theater owners are gathering this week in Las Vegas for CinemaCon<\/a>, the annual exhibition and trade show made famous \u2014 or at least slightly less obscure \u2014 by Seth Rogen’s show \u201cThe Studio\u201d<\/a> and his \u201cold school Hollywood buffet.\u201d Real-life Hollywood executives have bigger concerns than throwing a party, however.<\/p>\n

A critical time for movie theaters<\/p>\n

As \u201cF1\u201d and \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d producer Jerry Bruckheimer<\/a> said last week in a statement: \u201cWe are at a defining point in the future of this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruckheimer, \u201cOppenheimer\u201d producer Emma Thomas<\/a> and \u201cSinners\u201d director Ryan Coogler<\/a> are teaming up to do something about it. Just last week, Cinema United<\/a>, the trade organization representing some 60,000 movie screens in the U.S. and abroad, announced that Bruckheimer would be chairing their newly established filmmaker leadership council, with Thomas as vice chair and Coogler as one of its inaugural members.<\/p>\n

Other members include Brad Bird, Celine Song and Jason Reitman, who will advise on issues facing theatrical moviegoing, including windows, referring to the number of days films play exclusively in movie theaters before being available to buy or rent at home, and consolidation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur industry is strongest when it works together to promote the singular experience of seeing a movie on the big screen,\u201d Cinema United president and CEO Michael O\u2019Leary said in a statement. \u201cThe importance of having Jerry and Emma at the helm of this initiative, at such a critical time for our industry, cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Paramount and Warner Bros. elephant in the room<\/p>\n

Much of the public and private handwringing will revolve around Paramount\u2019s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Both studios will be hyping their upcoming slates to theater owners, in separate presentations: Warner Bros. is planned for Tuesday and Paramount is on Thursday. The question is how much, if at all, executives from either company will address the elephant in the room from the stage as former 20th Century Fox Chair and CEO Stacey Snider did in 2018 with the Disney acquisition looming.<\/p>\n

While Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison has said that he would like to grow the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. slate to more than 30 movies a year, there are lingering concerns<\/a> from organizations such as Cinema United.<\/p>\n

Historically, fewer standalone studios have meant fewer movies made for theaters, and between the pandemic, the strikes, the ramping up of streaming services and general financial instability, the release schedule has taken the hit. In 2019, there were 112 wide releases, or films released in over 2,000 theaters. This year, for the first time since the pandemic, that number is up to 115, according to Comscore.<\/p>\n

The show must go on, with stars and footage to help<\/p>\n

Doom and gloom is hardly ever the prevailing mood at CinemaCon, however. The studios wouldn\u2019t shell out big bucks to bring out their stars and footage if there weren\u2019t some optimism and excitement about what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

Universal\u2019s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr said he thinks the mood going into the conference is \u201cvery optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first part of the year we\u2019ve seen some extraordinary titles and great business, including our own \u2018Super Mario Galaxy Movie,\u2019\u201d Orr said. \u201cI think it should be quite the celebration in Vegas this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer has Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d a Steven Spielberg sci-fi spectacle, a Star Wars movie, the live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d a fifth Toy Story and a new \u201cSpider-Man.\u201d And later this year there\u2019s a new Marvel movie, \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d and the third \u201cDune,\u201d both coming out on the same day, December 18. Could Dunesday be the new Barbenheimer<\/a>?<\/p>\n

There have also been bright spots for movie theaters recently, including increased audience interest in premium large formats, like IMAX and 70 mm<\/a>, and a PG-rating box office<\/a> boom suggesting that families and younger audiences haven\u2019t entirely abandoned the big screen for the small one.<\/p>\n

The recent success of films like \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d \u201cHoppers\u201d and \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d also show that it\u2019s not just franchises that are bringing people to the theaters \u2014 although it\u2019s wrong to underestimate the importance of tentpoles like \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt least from the box-office perspective, we are going in on a very positive note,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, who heads marketplace trends for Comscore.<\/p>\n

Plus, those inside the industry are often quick to remind that the business has survived its share of existential crises, whether it\u2019s streaming, piracy, VHS or television.<\/p>\n

Thomas, who is producing \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d emphasized the \u201cprofound cultural value in gathering together with a group of strangers and connecting while experiencing something special on the big screen,\u201d in her statement about partnering with the movie theater trade organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what this is about: making sure that cinemas of all sizes, around the world, can continue to present our stories in the best possible setting, so movie fans of all ages can enjoy them as they were intended to be seen,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of theatrical moviegoing is at a critical moment. More people have been going to movie theaters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[387,967,116222,18,48,52,51,47,50,49,48882,1399,116223,17,1704],"class_list":["post-265663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-business","tag-entertainment","tag-future-of-moviegoing-2026-cinemacon","tag-general-news","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-media-and-entertainment-industry","tag-movies","tag-scifi-and-fantasy","tag-u-s-news","tag-wire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}