The U.S. box office is expected to drop by 81 percent this year as the coronavirus continues to decimate domestic moviegoing, according to new analyst report from MoffettNathanson. The report recommends that cinema chains swallow their pride and team up with streaming services like Netflix as a “lifeline to get more product on movie screens.”
While cinemas in many areas have re-opened, key markets in Democrat-controlled states like New York and California remain closed, which has had a chilling effect on Hollywood studios who remain wary of putting their movies in theaters. The disappointing domestic release of Tenet has prompted studios to delay many of their tentpole releases to 2021.
As a result, cinemas are still starving for movies that could lure back customers.
“2020 unfortunately now looks like a year where the domestic box office is set to plummet 81 percent,” MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman concluded in the report, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Fishman said the market could take a couple of years to bounce back. “Factoring in the studio supply and potential consumer demand issues, we now forecast 2021 to be depressed at 35 percent below 2019, or $7.4 billion, before growing 23 percent to $9.1 billion in 2022.”
In the meantime, he recommended cinema chains join forces with streaming services.
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