2022 had 2 of the top 20 biggest box-office movies of all time (Avatar 2 and Top Gun: Maverick) and the last 5 years have seen 9[1]. There are still big-budget movies being made and raking it in at the box office. I think, covid, the rise (and seeming decline) of streaming services and the tightening of belts generally are going to affect the movie business and probably it will and should change. But is it finished? Of course not.
Adjusted for inflation, and considering pent up demand from closed theaters in 2020 and 2021, it's not quite as impressive.
And both of 2022's winners were sequels (2009 and 1986), suggesting that this is milking the last and the new generation of creators aren't bringing in comparable audiences.
I'm not sure pent-up demand is really a reasonable expectation in this case. People couldn't go to the cinema for a while so they watched things via streaming. It's not like when cinemas were open again they were going to rush in and gorge themselves on overpriced popcorn.
> It's not like when cinemas were open again they were going to rush in and gorge themselves on overpriced popcorn.
Anecdotally, and intuitively, I think it is exactly like that? After sitting inside watching TV for two years, people were absolutely missing in-person, out-of-the-house experiences like the cinema. And they were sitting on two years of savings so the popcorn prices were easier to stomach.
[1] https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/worldwide/all...