Amazon’s upcoming wide release of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike movie Air exclusively in theaters in April “could represent the start of a substantive move into theatrical exhibition by streaming companies,” said Sean Gamble, chief executive of nation’s third-largest movie chain.

Amazon last month releaves plans to give Air a wide theatrical release April 5, the streamer’s first wide release since Mindy Kaling’s Late Night in the summer of 2019. It provided the pic with a nice opening Super Bowl ad. Content from streamers could help boost a wide release slate that badly needs boosting to over 100 films this year or beyond, creeping back to the average 130 releases pre-Covid.

“All of our traditional studio partners are insisting that theatrical is a better way of creating value,” Gamble said on a call after quarterly earnings. Movies with a theatrical window are more lucrative “and end up being better value for streaming platforms,...