Avengers assemble — to save movie theaters? Tom Hanks says Marvel movies provide hope

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and other big-budget flicks could be the key to saving movie theaters, one A-list actor said.

As movie theaters across the United States have been floundering during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tom Hanks says he believes they will “absolutely” continue to exist.

But Hanks told Collider his new film, “News of the World,” may be the last movie geared toward adults that is shown in theaters.

“Because after this, in order to guarantee that people show up again, we’re going to have the Marvel Universe and all sorts of franchises,” Hanks said. “And some of those movies are great. You want to see them writ large because actually watching it at home on your couch actually might diminish them somewhere, somehow, in their visual punch.”

Regal Cinemas has closed all 536 of its theaters, McClatchy News reported in October. AMC Theatres said the same month that t may run out of cash by the end of 2020 or early 2021, the Kansas City Star reported.

As movie theaters were forced to close across the country and Americans had social distancing in mind, drive-in theaters rose in popularity again.

Warner Bros. already announced all of its 2021 movies, which include “Dune,” “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Matrix 4,” will stream on HBO Max they same day they are released in theaters.

Hanks said the switch to streaming was a “slow train coming.”

“I think there’ll be an awful lot of movies that’ll only be streamed, and it’ll be fine to see them that way, because they’re actually built and made and constructed for somebody’s pretty good widescreen TV at their homes,” he told Collider.

But moviegoers tend to flock to theaters for the Marvel movies. Five of the top 12 highest-grossing movies of all time are Marvel films released in the last eight years, according to Box Office Mojo.

Movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe will hit theaters next year after being sidelined in 2020. “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “The Eternals” and the next “Spider-Man” movie are tentatively scheduled to be released in 2021, according to Cinema Blend.

This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Avengers assemble — to save movie theaters? Tom Hanks says Marvel movies provide hope."