The unexpectedly successful opening weekend of The Croods: A New Age has inspired renewed confidence from National CineMedia CEO Tom Lesinski that the theatrical film industry will inevitably rebound.
"It’s a good indication of not if this industry’s going to recover but when," Lesinski said at the Bank of America Securities Leveraged Finance Virtual Conference. "Consumers are going to come back." He also remarked that he expected "pent-up demand" from moviegoers for theatrical fare once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
"I don’t believe that the pandemic is going to have a significant effect on people’s behavior," Lesinski remarked in regards to whether or not the pandemic will permanently impact attitudes towards movie theaters. Instead, Lesinski is "confident that consumers will come back to the theaters as soon as there’s a real release schedule."
The Croods: A New Age opened to $9.7 million over its first three-day weekend, surpassing Tenet's $9.3 million debut for the biggest post-pandemic domestic opening weekend. Having already amassed $14.22 million, Croods 2 is already ahead of the lifetime domestic grosses of several movies that have opened theatrically during the pandemic, such as Honest Thief ($13.54 million) and Come Play ($8.7 million).
Directed by Joel Crawford, The Croods: A New Age stars Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Randy Thom, Leslie Mann, Kelly Marie Tran, Cloris Leachman and Peter Dinklage. The film is now in theaters.
Source: Deadline