So it’s a mess. This is straight from someone at a high level in the industry:
1. Theaters hyped that loosened restrictions and the release of Tenet and Ninja Turtles would jump-start the business. It didn’t, and the studios pushed everything back.
2. The result of everything getting pushed to next year means a lot (I mean a lot) of screens will close permanently in the US, unless there is a bailout.
3. Without a lot of screens, studios will release movies overseas (where movies are faring much better) and less so in the US, and move more to streaming
— the studios were already ready for this. Think about it — Disney has a streaming platform (and owns 20th Century in addition to its own studios); NBC/Comcast, which now has a streamong platform, owns Universal. ATT/Warner owns Warner Brothers and New Line. and has a streaming platform through HBO; CBS/Viacom owns Paramount, and has a streaming platform. That leaves Sony.
4. The secondary fallout will be large. Lenders could previously hope for a sale, or a Ch 11 with a sale process, but there won’t be buyers. The hard assets are worthless. Oh — and what are landlords going to do with these giant boxes?