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The smashing success of re-releases of movies like Coraline and Interstellar are prompting box-office analysts to ask, "why is Hollywood not doing this more often?"
But do we really want studios to spend more time and energy re-releasing their older hits?
But do we really want studios to spend more time and energy re-releasing their older hits?
At 10:41 a.m. on Dec. 6, outside the Lincoln Square AMC Theatres in New York City, a middle-aged woman stopped in front of a man holding a sign that read: “2 FREE TICKETS INTERSTELLAR NOW.”
“Right now?” she said.
“Right now!” he replied, before revealing a hidden cost on the back of the sign: “1 HUG.”
She happily paid his price for the rare commodity: a matinee seat for a film that came out a decade ago. In secondary markets online, tickets to Christopher Nolan’s 2014 space epic had been listed for weeks for as much as $215, after all 166 Imax screens sold out for the duration of the rerelease. Last weekend, “Interstellar” pulled in $4.57 million domestically, more than any new movie, and, at $27,500, a higher per-screen average than top grossers “Moana 2” and “Wicked.” Demand is so high, in fact, that Imax is expanding the theater count for next weekend.
The accomplishment is the latest example of how legacy films have swung back in fashion at the cinemas, as studios look to leverage their library titles and exhibitors face a post-pandemic, post-strike Hollywood with fewer tentpole movies per year. Separate from small repertory runs in boutique theaters (often comprising just one or two showings), at least 27 legacy films were rereleased in 2024 into more than 100 domestic theaters — in many cases, more than 1,000 — grossing more than $90 million in total.
“Right now?” she said.
“Right now!” he replied, before revealing a hidden cost on the back of the sign: “1 HUG.”
She happily paid his price for the rare commodity: a matinee seat for a film that came out a decade ago. In secondary markets online, tickets to Christopher Nolan’s 2014 space epic had been listed for weeks for as much as $215, after all 166 Imax screens sold out for the duration of the rerelease. Last weekend, “Interstellar” pulled in $4.57 million domestically, more than any new movie, and, at $27,500, a higher per-screen average than top grossers “Moana 2” and “Wicked.” Demand is so high, in fact, that Imax is expanding the theater count for next weekend.
The accomplishment is the latest example of how legacy films have swung back in fashion at the cinemas, as studios look to leverage their library titles and exhibitors face a post-pandemic, post-strike Hollywood with fewer tentpole movies per year. Separate from small repertory runs in boutique theaters (often comprising just one or two showings), at least 27 legacy films were rereleased in 2024 into more than 100 domestic theaters — in many cases, more than 1,000 — grossing more than $90 million in total.
