As cinemas struggle with the ascent of streaming and concurrent digital releases, movie studios gathered in Las Vegas to show-off their splashiest fall films and encourage movie theater owners.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Movie theaters are open again, but many people are still not comfortable being back in those crowds. And with some of the biggest summer blockbusters now available at home, some may ask, why go back at all? But movie theater owners know they have to lure audiences back to survive. They gathered this week for an industry convention known as CinemaCon. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has more.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: CinemaCon offered a sneak peek into upcoming big screen releases like the new superhero movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME")

J K SIMMONS: (As J. Jonah Jameson) That's right, folks. Spider-Man is, in fact, Peter Parker.

TOM HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Listen. I did not kill Mysterio, the drones did.

DEL BARCO: The three-day convention, held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, also premiered the first movie trailer for "Matrix 4: Resurrections" (ph). Attendees were treated to the first 13 minutes of the new "Top Gun: Maverick" movie and nearly 10 minutes of the long-delayed James Bond film, "No Time To Die."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NO TIME TO DIE")

DANIEL CRAIG: (As James Bond) Bond. James Bond.

JOHN FITHIAN: People who have been stuck at home for a very long time, we would want them to know that it's time to come back to the movie cinemas.

DEL BARCO: John Fithian heads NATO, the National Association of Theater Owners, which hosted the conference. He says a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered cinemas, more than 85% of them are back or gearing back for business with safety protocols in place. Fithian figures only about a thousand of the 4,200 theaters in the U.S. didn't survive financially. And some are permanently closed.

There were other challenges during the pandemic. Theater owners panicked when Warner Brothers debuted its entire 2021 slate simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK WIDOW")

SCARLETT JOHANSSON: (As Natasha Romanoff) I'm done running from my past.

DEL BARCO: Disney's release of "Black Widow" on its streaming platform the same day it came out in theaters prompted actress Scarlett Johansson to sue the company. During CinemaCon, Fithian pleaded for studios to re-examine their movie release strategies.

FITHIAN: Though that was understandable during the height of the pandemic, it's now the case as we're coming out of the pandemic that we need to return to models that have those exclusive windows in them so the entire movie chain can be profitable again.

DEL BARCO: Charles Rivkin, who heads the Motion Picture Association, also addressed the 4,000 cinema con attendees. He warned that digital releases have made it easier for pirates to copy and sell movies illegally. He said movie productions have adapted to new safety protocols, and he talked about a great comeback for the industry. Rivkin drew comparisons to innovations after the influenza pandemic last century.

CHARLES RIVKIN: Paramount Pictures, AMC, MGM, Warner, Disney, all of them were founded in the 1920s. I think what happened, people were locked in their homes during that terrifying pandemic of 1918. And then when they came out and the pandemic eased, they all wanted to go out and resume their life.

DEL BARCO: Rivkin says it drove demand for movies, and he said that could happen again. But not everyone is so confident. Rebecca Pahle, deputy editor of Boxoffice Pro magazine, was also a CinemaCon. She says she understands some movie lovers are very worried about the delta variant.

REBECCA PAHLE: That has nothing to do with release strategies or even the exhibition industry itself. It has to do with masking and with vaccination rates. It's - people just need to get vaccinated. And we're going to see, I think, waves of people being more comfortable and ready to come back to movie theaters. And the content will be ready for them.

DEL BARCO: That upcoming content includes films that will only premiere in theaters like Disney's "Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings"...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS")

SIMU LIU: (As Shaun) Shang-Chi.

AWKWAFINA: (As Katy) Shan-Chi.

LIU: (As Shaun) Schang.

AWKWAFINA: (As Katy) Shan.

LIU: (As Shaun) Schang.

AWKWAFINA: (As Katy) Schan.

LIU: (As Shaun) S-C-H-A-N-G - Schang.

AWKWAFINA: (As Katy) That's what I said.

DEL BARCO: ...And Warner Media's first post-COVID film with an exclusive theatrical release, "The Batman."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BATMAN")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As The Riddler) You're a part of this, too.

DEL BARCO: You can see that movie in cinemas next March. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BATMAN")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As The Riddler) You'll see. [POST BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio, as in a previous version of the web story, we say there are 4,200 theaters in the U.S. The correct number is 42,000.] Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Correction

In the audio, as in a previous version of the web story, we say there are 4,200 theaters in the U.S. The correct number is 42,000.