2026 poised to be a big year for movie theaters

LOS ANGELES — Rows of humming projectors and narrow aisles of equipment are where movies truly come to life, and where Stacy Schlepp is when he says the future of moviegoing is looking brighter.

Schlepp is the general manager of Cinema West Beach Cities and believes the year ahead has the kind of depth and scale theaters have been awaiting.

“We have seven to 10 pictures that could be billion-dollar pictures,” Schlepp said. “And it starts basically Feb. 14. The summer looks much better this year than last year. And then we end the year with 'Avengers: Doomsday,' which could be huge."

The theater offers 4DX with multi-sensory effects and ScreenX, a multi-projection technology that extends scenes of a film onto the side walls of the theater. But he said it’s not just the number of big releases that matters, it’s the mix.

“Multiple genres work well together because you get more people coming in for different movies,” he said. “If you and I wanted to see two different things, having them both on the same weekend just drives more people into the business.”

He points to Valentine’s Day weekend as an early example of that strategy in action, with "Crime 101," "Wuthering Heights" and "Goat" all opening at the same time. Schlepp said that kind of variety helps build momentum early in the year, even after the typical post-holiday slowdown.

“We’re in the January slump, and then what we’ll do is we’ll start to pick up as we get closer to Valentine’s Day,” he said.

Schlepp also notes a shift in how movies are being released, even among companies once seen as competitors to theaters.

“Last year, we saw companies like Netflix and Amazon bringing more of their things into the theater, even for short times,” he said. “That gave us more opportunity for people to come here and not be forced to watch it in their living rooms.”

His optimism is backed up by data.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, said last year’s box office performance showed resilience, even if the path wasn’t smooth.

“2025 took a circuitous route to get to $9.051 billion in domestic box office, according to our Comscore data,” Dergarabedian said. “But at the end of the day, we wound up with over $9 billion domestically and $32 billion at the global box office.”

Dergarabedian said certain genres stood out as consistent drivers of theater attendance, specifically horror and family-friendly movies.

“Horror movies in 2025 generated a record-breaking $1.4 billion at the domestic U.S. and Canada box office,” he said. “That’s the highest grossing ever in '25 for horror movies overall.”

Beyond individual genres, Dergarabedian says theatrical success plays a larger role in the health of the entertainment industry, especially as production levels fluctuate.

“It really is a huge deal that people still love going to the movies,” he said. “The number of jobs, especially in Southern California and really around the world, that depend on a robust theatrical slate of movies and a production schedule is really important.”

He also says theatrical releases continue to shape how audiences value films, even long after they leave theaters.

“Movies that first appear in a theater have more perceived value by patrons,” Dergarabedian said. “And therefore, when those films that open first in a movie theater finally wind up on streaming, they’re more coveted, more sought after.”

For Schlepp, the draw ultimately comes down to the experience itself, something he says audiences still can’t get at home.

“People really want to see it on a big screen,” he said. “We make it bigger. The sound’s bigger. You’re watching it with real people. It’s just a different experience when you come here.”