For a few fleeting weeks, it felt like movie theaters and the box office had turned a corner in its efforts to recover from the COVID pandemic that shut down most cinemas for over a year. Summer blockbusters were firing on all cylinders, families and horror buffs were on their way back, and it seemed like all that buzz would trickle down into the second half of 2022.
That second half dashed those hopes, turning 2022 into a roller coaster filled with hopeful highs and devastating slumps. While the biggest blockbusters continued to sell tickets in droves, question marks hang over the future of the box office at large and whether theaters will become the exclusive domain of big-budget franchises, leaving everything else to die on the vine.