John Fithian, the outgoing CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners, assured exhibitors Tuesday at the CinemaCon trade convention that the industry is “off to an incredible start in 2023.”.

Not long ago, some were predicting more and more films would be diverted from theaters and sent straight into homes.

For the first time in three years, the fall movie industrial complex is lurching back into high gear.

Kathyn Dennet, center, and Brian Haver leave the IFC Center after viewing a screening on "Mank", Friday, March 5, 2021, in New York. Theaters in many other areas reopened last summer around the release of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” but that attempted comeback fizzled. “It’s a symbolic moment,” said Michael Barker, co-president of the New York-based Sony Pictures Classics, which on Friday released the Oscar contenders “The Father” and “The Truffle Hunters” in Manhattan theaters. Some of the city’s prominent theaters, including the Film Forum, the Alamo Drafthouse, the Metrograph and Regal Cinemas were targeting openings in the coming weeks. “We in the movie theater business live off of movies that play all around the country and all around the world.

FILE - Posters for upcoming movies are displayed in an empty corridor at the currently closed AMC Burbank Town Center 8 movie theaters complex on April 29, 2020, in Burbank, Calif. After several false starts, the film industry is hoping to bring new releases back into movie theaters in late August. While the beleaguered restaurant industry still has takeout and airlines continue to operate with masked flyers, the vast majority of U.S. movie theaters havent punched a single ticket since March. The largest studios the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., Universal now all have streaming services of their own now, along with television operations. Theaters in China, the worlds second largest movie market, this week reopened with theaters limited to 30% capacity. If they dont do something, if they just keeping holding the films back, the theaters are going to die.