Cineworld Says Movie Theaters Could Be In Trouble Until Black Panther Sequel Is Released

Cineworld, the world’s second-largest movie theater chain, said the industry could struggle to fill theaters until later this fall when the Black Panther sequel is released.

Business Insider (BI) reports that until Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters this November, there aren’t any big-name movies that will draw people to the theaters. The last blockbuster was Top Gun: Maverick, which earned more than $600 million in the U.S. and more than $1 billion globally, according to Deadline.

“Despite a gradual recovery of demand since re-opening in April 2021, recent admission levels have been below expectations,” Cineworld said. “These lower levels of admissions are due to a limited film slate that is anticipated to continue until November 2022 and are expected to negatively impact trading and the Group’s liquidity position in the near term.”

The original Black Panther, starring the late Chadwick Boseman, grossed more than $700 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.

The U.S. box office hit $5 billion for the year recently, but it’s more than $2 billion less than the box office at this time in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the film industry. The number of movies released has also decreased compared to years past.

So far this year 43 moves have been given a wide release in more than 2,000 theaters. At this time in 2019, more than 60 movies had been released. In addition to the pandemic sending everyone into their living rooms, the rise of numerous streaming services, including HBO Max and Paramount +, has pushed some movies to be released on streaming sites instead of movie theaters.

Another movie that is expected to draw crowds this fall is Black Adam, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but outside of those two movies, the industry is expected to struggle as horror and action movies aren’t drawing crowds to theaters the way they used to.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will star Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, and Angela Bassett.