• by Todd Wasserman , Staff Writer, June 1, 2022

After more than two years of mask-wearing and avoiding social gatherings, this summer, COVID may just be winding down. Health experts are cautiously predicting a pause in number of COVID infections.

In an encouraging sign, Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” made $156 million in its opening weekend, per Comscore. Restaurants are not fully recovered yet, but as consumers begin to feel more secure, they may venture out more. Looking at the current economic scene, the picture is not great: Wall Street is warning of a “very, very high risk” of recession, but at least with regard to the pandemic, the country may finally be out of the acute

Let’s take a closer look at the movie industry in the wake of the pandemic.

As the performance of the long-awaited “Top Gun” sequel shows, consumers are willing to go to the theaters for an “event” movie that gives them social currency. Luckily, such movies planned for this summer include “Jurassic World: Dominion” (June 10), “Elvis” (June 24) and “Nope” (July 22), among others. Moreover, the partial windows and streaming openings that studios experimented with appear to be waning as studios seem set on a window of 45 days.

After taking an involuntary break from seeing movies in the theaters, there is hope that viewers can be lured back. Recovery will take time, but getting consumers out of their homes to experience movies is a good first step towards encouraging them to take baby steps back to getting back to life as it was before COVID.