The pandemic put movie theaters in peril. Here's how some survived - and thrived

You can't make this stuff up.

Had Paramount Pictures released "Top Gun: Maverick" in 2019 as originally planned, the military action sequel would have done predictably well at the box office.

But, when Tom Cruise's movie missile finally blasted off in 2022, it exploded, shattering expectations by racking up a seismic $1.4 billion.

Thanks to … COVID-19?

"During COVID-19, people were anxious to get out of the house and go see a movie in a theater," said Chris Johnson, CEO of Tivoli Enterprises, the Northwest suburban parent company of Classic Cinemas. " 'Top Gun' was the right movie at the right time in the right place. 'Maverick' became the movie that saved Hollywood."

The film's over-performing success also signaled the light at the end of a long and darkened tunnel where major theater chains - among them Classic Cinemas, AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Alamo Drafthouse - had closed down in 2020, either by government edict or voluntarily.

"Without the densely populated locations, it wasn't in the best interest of the studios to release any movies," Johnson said. "Audiences in Utah, South Dakota and Texas didn't make enough of a national footprint to make a release worthwhile."

So, Hollywood studios quickly kicked their most expensive and attractive offerings down the road, hoping for more profitable release dates. These included Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" and especially James Bond's "No Time to Die," which incurred interest fees of $1 million for every month it sat on the cinematic sidelines.

"Meanwhile, we had no new movies," Johnson said of theaters. "We were like a restaurant without any food to sell."

With social distancing and attendance restrictions in place, Classic Cinemas eventually reopened. Attendance, however, was a fraction of what it had been before.

"Every time you reopen, there is a huge cost," he said. "You are bringing in food that spoils: popcorn, candy, whatever. You are bringing back employees. And there is no way to sustain a business that doesn't have good product flow every week."

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan insisted that his 2020 movie "Tenet" be released through Warner Bros. exclusively in theaters.

"He tried to save the (theater) industry," Johnson said. "But we got no support from any other studios."

COVID-19 may have spelled gloom for many movie theaters, but it caused a boom for another significant wing of the American movie business.

"The drive-ins not only didn't die," Joe Bob Briggs said, "they saved the motion picture industry!"

Briggs, the self-proclaimed "world's greatest drive-in movie critic," attended Rosemont's Flashback Weekend Horror Convention in August where he challenged the idea that a single movie saved Hollywood.

"There were a few weeks when all the top box office feature films were playing at the drive-ins," Briggs said. "There would have been no box office grosses at all if it hadn't been for the drive-in industry."

Scott Dehn, owner of the iconic McHenry Outdoor Theater in McHenry, suggested that the nation's estimated 350 extant drive-in theaters were too busy saving themselves to worry about saving all of Hollywood.

"This pandemic was like nothing I have encountered before," he said. "We had to get creative, think about offering something besides new movies."

The McHenry experimented with live concerts and presented classic motion pictures, such as 1939's "The Wizard of Oz." "Silent Bob" cult movie stars Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes produced one of their podcasts at the McHenry.

"People responded to that," Dehn said, "and we already had a wide-open space ideal for outdoor social distancing, unlike regular theaters."

Over at the Midway Drive-In in Dixon, Illinois, owners Mike and Mia Kerz closed the concession stand early in the pandemic as a safety precaution. The couple, former residents of Hoffman Estates and Buffalo Grove, who now live in Niles, bought and restored the 1950 Midway Theater in 2007.

"When the studios pulled their first-run features in 2020, we had to be resourceful," Mike Kerz said.

Old classics such as "Grease," "Back to the Future" and "Goonies" played to sold-out crowds. Cult horror star Bruce Campbell staged the first stop of his "Keep Your Distance Tour" at the Midway.

"2020 turned out to be one of our best years," Mike said.

He agreed with both Dehn and Johnson that Hollywood studios sucker-punched theater owners with their decision to premiere first-run movies on streaming channels at the same time they opened in theaters. Sometimes the studios just went with streaming.

"All of a sudden, streaming is everything," Johnson said. "Finally, the Hollywood studios could do what they always wanted to do - go straight to the consumer. They could cut out the theaters and justify it by saying that they just wanted the audiences to be safe."

One unsung branch of the movie industry actually made out like gangbusters because of the pandemic.

Bill Vergos, a Park Ridge native and graduate of Maine South High School, is the head of Digital Film Distribution for Freestyle Digital Media in Los Angeles.

Freestyle, the largest distributor of independent movies in the nation, picks up films that want to avoid the studio pipeline, or can't get a studio distribution deal, then delivers the films directly to streaming services, cable, satellite and digital outlets.

"These outlets are usually picky about what they accept," Vergos said. "But within 48 hours of the first weekend of the (COVID-19) lockdown, we were digging in and moving forward. They just wanted content. Anything we could give them!

"People were stuck at home, glued to their TVs. This was a great opportunity for the country to experience new independent films that people would not normally seek out."

Vergos remains upbeat about the future of all movies, regardless of their outlets.

"It's been a great year for me and independent movies," he said.

Johnson said one lesson learned during the pandemic underscored the importance of the communal in-theater movie experience.

"Imagine being on a roller-coaster ride when you're right at the top - then you hit a pause button and you stop," he said. "That would kill the excitement. You cannot replicate that experience at home.

"Everyone laughing together. Gasping together. Experiencing the emotions together, without the ability to hit pause and stop. Without the doorbell ringing or the phone ringing."

A recent study conducted by the Cinema Foundation found that viewers place a higher value on movies first released theatrically.

"I don't view streaming and theaters as competitive, but complementary," Johnson said. "Each reinforces people who want to see movies and elevates their desire to see even more of them. But what theaters sell is total immersion into a story and its characters."

So far this year, 3.1 million patrons have bought tickets to Classic Cinemas theaters, almost back to pre-pandemic levels, fueling Johnson's optimistic outlook.

"We are not only going to survive," he said. "We are going to thrive."