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[ ](https://www.npr.org/music/) - [Tiny Desk](https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/) - [New Music Friday](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/606254804/new-music-friday) - [All Songs Considered](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/) - [Music Features](https://www.npr.org/sections/music-features) - [Live Sessions](https://www.npr.org/series/770565791/npr-music-live-sessions) - [The Best Music of 2025](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-99930/best-music-of-2025) - [About NPR](https://www.npr.org/about/) - [Diversity](https://www.npr.org/diversity/) - [Support](https://www.npr.org/support/) - [Careers](https://www.npr.org/careers/) - [Press](https://www.npr.org/series/750003/press-room/) - [Ethics](https://www.npr.org/ethics/) **How COVID-19 is still impacting movies – and theaters** **The pandemic decimated the box office and the reshaped the moviegoing experience. NPR's movie critic, Bob Mondello, looks back on how his job changed during the early months of COVID-19.** [**Special Series** COVID 5 years later](https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-52353/covid-5-years-later) # 5 years after COVID closed theaters, movies are still struggling to climb back March 9, 20257:00 AM ET [](https://www.npr.org/people/3813466/bob-mondello) [Bob Mondello](https://www.npr.org/people/3813466/bob-mondello)  The marquee at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta in September 2020. **Christopher Escobar/Plaza Theatre** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Christopher Escobar/Plaza Theatre As good as Hollywood is at imagining alternate realities, it didn't see this one coming. The first weekend in March 2020, as Pixar's *Onward* joined *Sonic the Hedgehog, The Invisible Man,* and *Bad Boys For Life* at cineplexes, North American cinemas [had a snappy \$100 million weekend](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/by-year/2020/). Two weeks later, a much-diminished Tinseltown reported that its weekend ticket sales, according to the industry tracking site [Box Office Mojo, amounted to \$4,160](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2020W12/?ref_=bo_wey_table_47). That's not a typo. What came in-between was COVID-19, an illness spread by proximity – the very thing that makes moviegoing a popular experience. In the space of a few days most American cinemas had shuttered, and the ones that remained open – mostly drive-ins – were so sparsely attended they were barely making payroll. Sponsor Message It would be months before major theater chains reopened, and when they did, movie-going was no longer the carefree leisure-time activity it had been. In some places, attending a film at the end of 2020 involved masks, temperature scans at the door, contact-free ticketing. [I know all this because I wrote about it](https://www.npr.org/2020/10/05/920454596/how-movie-theaters-are-surviving-the-pandemic). I had to, with Hollywood not releasing new films to theaters. That year's presumed blockbusters – the 007 thriller *No Time to Die*, Marvel's *Black Widow,* Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* – all pushed their openings to 2021. So for a while, I wrote about films movie-lovers could catch at home: [Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/825696927/fred-and-ginger-cheered-us-up-during-the-depression-might-they-do-it-again), [*Harold and Maude, Do The Right Thing*, silent classics starring Buster Keaton](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818518743/classic-movies-to-stream-at-home-while-waiting-out-an-epidemic)*.* Then, I wrote about industry strategies — how studios were releasing films to video on demand, or streaming services, while filmmakers were figuring out how to make movies without endangering casts or crews.  Moviegoers wait for their movie to start at the AMC Burbank in Burbank, Calif. on reopening day in March 2021. **Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images Filmmaker Mark Duplass teamed up with actress and director Natalie Morales to make the two-hander *Language Lessons* about an unexpected friendship between a woman who teaches Spanish online and a man whose husband has purchased 100 lessons for him as a surprise. The premise allowed them to film without ever being in the same room. Sponsor Message The film *How It Ends* took a different tack, filming its story of an impending asteroid collision largely outdoors, in a spookily — if understandably — deserted Los Angeles. As summer arrived, and theaters had to either reopen or face bankruptcy, new issues arose. In August, I attended a critics' screening for Christopher Nolan's time-bending thriller [*Tenet,*](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/20/893299116/christopher-nolans-sci-fi-thriller-tenet-delayed-indefinitely) joining six other reviewers spaced as far from each other as possible in a 450-seat IMAX house. I remember thinking that this couldn't seriously be the model for the future. **How NPR covered the pandemic and movies** [**March 2020:** While Waiting Out The Pandemic, It's Worth A Watch Of These Classic Films](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818518743/classic-movies-to-stream-at-home-while-waiting-out-an-epidemic) [**April 2020:** Fred And Ginger Cheered Us Up During The Depression. Might They Do It Again?](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/825696927/fred-and-ginger-cheered-us-up-during-the-depression-might-they-do-it-again) [**May 2020:** How Hollywood Works From Home: Stay Tuned As TV Shows Get Creative](https://www.npr.org/2020/05/12/854363891/new-genre-emerges-in-hollywood-do-it-yourself-tv) [**May 2020:** As Some States Reopen, Theater Owners Are Watching — And Mostly Waiting](https://www.npr.org/2020/05/06/850647100/as-some-states-reopen-theater-owners-are-watching-and-mostly-waiting) [**June 2020:** Cameras Can Roll In Hollywood Again](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/12/876425130/cameras-can-roll-in-hollywood-again) [**May 2021:** The Movies Pitch The Audience: Come Back\!](https://www.npr.org/2021/05/22/998797324/the-movies-pitch-the-audience-come-back) And indeed, when theaters showed the film, some with seating in checkerboard patterns that limited attendance to one-tenth of capacity, *Tenet* took in \$20 million over the long Labor Day weekend — easily the highest box office number in five months, but far from what was needed to break even for a film that had cost hundreds of millions to make and market. And profitability was hardly the only consideration. Almost forgotten now is the audience trauma those early pandemic-era films had to negotiate and address. *Little Fish*, released early in 2021, was completed before COVID-19, but its plot — about a worldwide plague of memory loss — resonated because it got the details of a pandemic right: masks in public, jams at hospitals, visits to family becoming difficult, workplaces feeling dicey. [*Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,*](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/12/1142183112/glass-onion-knives-out-rian-johnson) released not to theaters, but on Netflix, seemed inspired by out-of-touch celebrities gathering during the pandemic. Its characters arrived masked, indulged in pandemic gaming and hobbies, and took a then-still-theoretical oral vaccine. And late in 2020, [the British tabloid *The Sun* published a recording of](https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/13489709/tom-cruise-covid-rant-mission-impossible-2/) Tom Cruise going ballistic on the set of [*Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning*.](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/16/1187779399/cruise-control-an-homage-to-the-relentless-reliability-of-mission-impossible) Two crew members, it seemed, had violated the production's strict COVID distancing protocols by standing too near each other at a computer terminal and Cruise let them know in a profanity-laced rant that their apologies wouldn't be enough if an outbreak forced them to suspend shooting. Sponsor Message "Tell it to the people who are losing their f\*\*\*\*\*\* homes because our industry is shut down," he shouted. "That's what I sleep with every night: the future of this f\*\*\*\*\*\* industry." He wasn't wrong. Five years after the biggest attendance drop in cinematic history, Hollywood is still struggling to climb back from the depths. This year's first nine weeks of ticket sales in North America (\$1.09 billion) are an improvement over last year, but they're still running well behind the pre-COVID weeks of 2020 (\$1.67 billion). *Onward,* as that Pixar title had it back in March 2020, and hopefully, upward. - [COVID](https://www.npr.org/tags/815204565/covid) - [mission impossible](https://www.npr.org/tags/643701878/mission-impossible) - **Facebook** - **Flipboard** - **Email** ###### Read & Listen - [Home](https://www.npr.org/) - [News](https://www.npr.org/sections/news/) - [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/) - [Music](https://www.npr.org/music/) - [Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows) ###### Connect - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/NPR/) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/npr/) - [Press](https://www.npr.org/series/750003/press-room/) - [Public Editor](https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/) - [Corrections](https://www.npr.org/corrections/) - [Transcripts](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/) - [Contact & Help](https://help.npr.org/contact/s/) ###### About NPR - [Overview](https://www.npr.org/about/) - [Diversity](https://www.npr.org/diversity/) - [NPR Network](https://www.npr.org/network/) - [Accessibility](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/1136563345/accessibility) - [Ethics](https://www.npr.org/ethics/) - [Finances](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances) ###### Get Involved - [Support Public Radio](https://www.npr.org/support/) - [Sponsor NPR](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/186948703/corporate-sponsorship) - [NPR Careers](https://www.npr.org/careers/) - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [NPR Extra](https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/) - [Terms of Use](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179876898/terms-of-use) - [Privacy](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy) - [Your Privacy Choices](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy#yourchoices) - [Text Only](https://text.npr.org/) - © 2026 npr Sponsor Message Sponsor Message [Become an NPR sponsor](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/186948703/corporate-sponsorship)  ##### Exclusive benefits ###### Give a little. 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 The marquee at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta in September 2020. **Christopher Escobar/Plaza Theatre** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Christopher Escobar/Plaza Theatre As good as Hollywood is at imagining alternate realities, it didn't see this one coming. The first weekend in March 2020, as Pixar's *Onward* joined *Sonic the Hedgehog, The Invisible Man,* and *Bad Boys For Life* at cineplexes, North American cinemas [had a snappy \$100 million weekend](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/by-year/2020/). Two weeks later, a much-diminished Tinseltown reported that its weekend ticket sales, according to the industry tracking site [Box Office Mojo, amounted to \$4,160](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2020W12/?ref_=bo_wey_table_47). That's not a typo. What came in-between was COVID-19, an illness spread by proximity – the very thing that makes moviegoing a popular experience. In the space of a few days most American cinemas had shuttered, and the ones that remained open – mostly drive-ins – were so sparsely attended they were barely making payroll. It would be months before major theater chains reopened, and when they did, movie-going was no longer the carefree leisure-time activity it had been. In some places, attending a film at the end of 2020 involved masks, temperature scans at the door, contact-free ticketing. [I know all this because I wrote about it](https://www.npr.org/2020/10/05/920454596/how-movie-theaters-are-surviving-the-pandemic). I had to, with Hollywood not releasing new films to theaters. That year's presumed blockbusters – the 007 thriller *No Time to Die*, Marvel's *Black Widow,* Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* – all pushed their openings to 2021. So for a while, I wrote about films movie-lovers could catch at home: [Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals](https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/825696927/fred-and-ginger-cheered-us-up-during-the-depression-might-they-do-it-again), [*Harold and Maude, Do The Right Thing*, silent classics starring Buster Keaton](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818518743/classic-movies-to-stream-at-home-while-waiting-out-an-epidemic)*.* Then, I wrote about industry strategies — how studios were releasing films to video on demand, or streaming services, while filmmakers were figuring out how to make movies without endangering casts or crews.  Moviegoers wait for their movie to start at the AMC Burbank in Burbank, Calif. on reopening day in March 2021. **Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images Filmmaker Mark Duplass teamed up with actress and director Natalie Morales to make the two-hander *Language Lessons* about an unexpected friendship between a woman who teaches Spanish online and a man whose husband has purchased 100 lessons for him as a surprise. The premise allowed them to film without ever being in the same room. The film *How It Ends* took a different tack, filming its story of an impending asteroid collision largely outdoors, in a spookily — if understandably — deserted Los Angeles. As summer arrived, and theaters had to either reopen or face bankruptcy, new issues arose. In August, I attended a critics' screening for Christopher Nolan's time-bending thriller [*Tenet,*](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/20/893299116/christopher-nolans-sci-fi-thriller-tenet-delayed-indefinitely) joining six other reviewers spaced as far from each other as possible in a 450-seat IMAX house. I remember thinking that this couldn't seriously be the model for the future. And indeed, when theaters showed the film, some with seating in checkerboard patterns that limited attendance to one-tenth of capacity, *Tenet* took in \$20 million over the long Labor Day weekend — easily the highest box office number in five months, but far from what was needed to break even for a film that had cost hundreds of millions to make and market. And profitability was hardly the only consideration. Almost forgotten now is the audience trauma those early pandemic-era films had to negotiate and address. *Little Fish*, released early in 2021, was completed before COVID-19, but its plot — about a worldwide plague of memory loss — resonated because it got the details of a pandemic right: masks in public, jams at hospitals, visits to family becoming difficult, workplaces feeling dicey. [*Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,*](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/12/1142183112/glass-onion-knives-out-rian-johnson) released not to theaters, but on Netflix, seemed inspired by out-of-touch celebrities gathering during the pandemic. Its characters arrived masked, indulged in pandemic gaming and hobbies, and took a then-still-theoretical oral vaccine. And late in 2020, [the British tabloid *The Sun* published a recording of](https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/13489709/tom-cruise-covid-rant-mission-impossible-2/) Tom Cruise going ballistic on the set of [*Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning*.](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/16/1187779399/cruise-control-an-homage-to-the-relentless-reliability-of-mission-impossible) Two crew members, it seemed, had violated the production's strict COVID distancing protocols by standing too near each other at a computer terminal and Cruise let them know in a profanity-laced rant that their apologies wouldn't be enough if an outbreak forced them to suspend shooting. "Tell it to the people who are losing their f\*\*\*\*\*\* homes because our industry is shut down," he shouted. "That's what I sleep with every night: the future of this f\*\*\*\*\*\* industry." He wasn't wrong. Five years after the biggest attendance drop in cinematic history, Hollywood is still struggling to climb back from the depths. This year's first nine weeks of ticket sales in North America (\$1.09 billion) are an improvement over last year, but they're still running well behind the pre-COVID weeks of 2020 (\$1.67 billion). *Onward,* as that Pixar title had it back in March 2020, and hopefully, upward.