Top Guns: Movie Theaters Enjoy Blockbuster Summer After Weathering Pandemic

In a pivotal moment in the massive summer hit Top Gun: Maverick, Val Kilmer's Iceman proclaims, "The Navy needs Maverick." As it turns out, movie theaters did as well.

The Tom Cruise blockbuster netted more than $1.3B in box office sales in the best summer for movies in years, proving that audiences are willing to return to theaters for the right film.

“Maverick was one of those movies that was meant to be seen on the big screen,” said Charles H. Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association. “And if you're going to see Maverick, go see it on an IMAX screen with full sound, it's just incredible.”

As this week's guest on the Walker Webcast, Rivkin told host Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker that the Top Gun sequel was one of several movies drawing audiences back to theaters. He credited hits including the latest Dr. Strange and Jurassic World films for helping boost ticket sales as well. 

Overall, domestic ticket sales in the first half of 2022 were up nearly 250% from 2021. Revenue is still below pre-pandemic numbers, but Rivkin told Walker that the latest numbers are a “very healthy” trend for the movie theater industry. 

He also noted that the demise of the cineplex during the pandemic was greatly exaggerated, as demonstrated by an MPA study that suggested the industry weathered the past two years rather well.

While it’s true that movie streaming took off during the pandemic, America lost only about 600 screens since 2019, according to the MPA, and about 40,500 screens remain in operation today. 

That is good news not only for studio executives but for the film sector as a whole, which employs about 2.5 million people. For every Cruise, there are many more electricians, makeup artists and others who depend on the industry for their livelihoods. 

“Thank goodness we didn't have all these theaters closed during the pandemic,” he told Walker. “That would have been an absolute tragedy for a lot of workers but also for America.”

To Rivkin, this blockbuster summer is priming the pump for continued growth in theater attendance.

“Moviegoing begets moviegoing,” he said. “When you go to a film and you see all the trailers, you’re like, ‘I want to come back and see that movie.’ And we didn't have that during the pandemic because people weren't going to theaters and so they couldn't get excited about the next one.”

While it’s great to see people returning to theaters, Rivkin stressed that the MPA, whose membership consists of the six largest entertainment companies in the world, represents more than just the big movie studios. Streaming, television and even gaming to some extent are all part of an increasingly multiplatformed industry.

A former diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to France during the Obama administration, Rivkin called the entertainment industry an “enormous source of soft power and cultural exchange” for the United States.

Hollywood is “one of America's greatest exporters, both of our cultural diplomacy and cultural assets, as well as our economics,” Rivkin said. “We sell to about 131 countries around the world and we have a positive trade surplus with every nation on Earth where we do business. The industry was largely created in America. The French may disagree with that, but I would argue that it's something we do better than anybody else, in my humble opinion.”

Early in his career, Rivkin was president and CEO of The Jim Henson Co., where he said he was inspired by the pragmatic idealism of the company’s founder. 

“Jim Henson believed that media, if used properly, could be an enormous source for good in the world,” Rivkin said. “He had almost a double bottom line: He wanted to make the world a better place, and he also wanted to make money for shareholders and grow his business.”

That was not the only lesson he took away from his time working with Henson. In a scene that might come from a Hollywood thriller, Rivkin recalled that a “shadowy figure” frequently passed by his basement office to visit the boiler room of the company’s headquarters building. 

His curiosity piqued, Rivkin went to the boiler room, where he found pipes and other equipment decorated to look like Muppets. He asked the janitor there about the mysterious visitor and learned that it was Henson.

“He comes by to bounce ideas off me,” the janitor replied.

A slightly incredulous Rivkin later asked Henson about this. The Muppet creator corroborated the janitor’s claim, explaining: “Well, Charlie, you know good ideas can come from anywhere.”

Rivkin said that was a lesson he’s taken with him throughout his career, whether he’s been negotiating with foreign dignitaries or studio heads.

“Just because somebody has a title that says they're the senior executive of muckety-muck doesn't mean that they have the best ideas,” he said. “It's always important to reach into the organization to get an understanding of the guts of an organization, and to always stand behind your people and lead by example.”

On Aug. 24, Walker's guest will be Gonzaga University Basketball Coach Mark Few. Visit here for more.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Walker & Dunlop. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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