Michael Cieply: Great Movie Weekend. What Else Have You Got?

deadline.com:

It was a magnificent movie weekend. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom. All hits, a blow-out! So what else have you got?

The question sounds obnoxious, like its near-cousin, the always infuriating: “What have you done for me lately?” But it’s an honest query, and an important one for a strike-bound, streaming-bent, pandemic-emergent industry that is still in need of revival.

The record-breaking weekend is a wonderful tonic, a welcome reminder that the audience, given half a chance, is still willing.

But one weekend, even with the anticipated hold-over business from its hits, doesn’t mean a return to health. That requires yet more watchable movies, lots of them, preferably offered in quick succession, while the viewers are showing an appetite.