Despite some excellent movies hitting theaters, 2024 was, to use a sports phrase, a rebuilding year. The 2023 Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes ground Hollywood to a halt before the studios ultimately agreed to some much-needed concessions for the folks who physically make the films and TV shows we all love, and the downstream effects of that unnecessarily drawn-out labor stoppage spilled into 2024. Movies and shows that were supposed to come out needed time to restart production, studios delayed some releases into 2025, and the industry as a whole experienced a contraction. The first half of this year was rough at the box office, but thanks to several major wins near the end of the year, theatrical exhibition managed to stay alive and make up a ton of ground.

While we'll likely be seeing the effects of the strikes and the subsequent contraction for a while, the floodgates are preparing to open for...