Cinema's Future: Tom Cruise's final mission, new Superman, & Avatar

Tom Cruise takes on what may be his final "Mission: Impossible," a new Superman will wear the red cape, and the record-setting "Avatar" sci-fi series will return to movie theaters this year.

Those films and more are giving cinema operators hope that the long recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue in 2025. Five years after the start of the health crisis, moviegoing has not fully rebounded.

Box office receipts totaled $8.6 billion in the United States and Canada last year, 25% below the pre-pandemic heights of $11.4 billion in 2019.

The film industry was disrupted again in 2023 when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike.

"That complex matrix of filmmaking, where everyone wants the best talent and actors and the best sets, it takes a long time to get that running again," said Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Europe's Vue Cinemas. "2025 is going to feel the tail end of that."

Top names in the movie business will gather at the annual CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas early next month to talk about the state of the industry.

The conference draws executives from Hollywood studios, multiplex operators such as AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, and Cineworld, and owners of single theaters in small towns.

At the Academy Awards this month, Sean Baker, the director of "Anora" and winner of best director, delivered a "battle cry" for filmmakers, distributors,, and audiences to support theaters.

"The theater-going experience is under threat," he said, noting that the number of screens shrunk during the pandemic.

"If we don't reverse this trend, we'll be losing a vital part of our culture," Baker added.

Shawn Robbins, Director of Movie Analytics at Fandango and founder and owner of Box Office Theory, said the movie business was adjusting to "a new normal."

"Event movies are increasingly drivers of the business," Robbins said. "There's even more weight on their shoulders regarding box office dollars."

Robbins said that moviegoers still turn out for big-budget films but have shown they are happy to wait to watch others at home.

"It is widespread knowledge that a lot of movies will be available to stream within three to eight weeks, whereas it used to be a minimum of three months," he said.

'Avatar as a 'Tipping Point?'

Among the big hitters coming to theaters this year are "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," a movie that may be Cruise's last appearance in the long-running action franchise. "One last time," he says in the trailer. The film will debut over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend in May, along with Walt Disney's live-action version of the animated classic "Lilo & Stitch."

Brad Pitt plays a Formula 1 driver in the June release of "F1". In July, Warner Bros. will release its new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy and starring David Corenswet.

From Marvel, the antihero team Thunderbolts will kick off the summer moviegoing season in early May, followed by The Fantastic Four in late July.

Offerings around the November and December holidays include the second part of the musical box office phenomenon "Wicked," the animated sequel "Zootopia 2", and "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third film in James Cameron's Avatar series. The first Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the second ranks third.

Robbins projected that domestic box office receipts would increase slightly in 2025 compared to last year, "maybe flirting with $9 billion." He said it is unclear when ticket sales will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Richards said the new "Avatar" would kick off "an extraordinary three to five years" for cinemas.

"We're going to see (Avatar) as the tipping point," Richards said. "2026 has got an extraordinary number of great films."