Blockbuster Pileup: Can ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Barbie,’ ‘Indiana Jones 5’ and ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ All Survive in the Same Month?

At the end of last summer, Flix Brewhouse faced a dire situation, albeit one that wasnt unique to the Texas-based movie theater chain. There werent any movies to show in August.

We were going to A24 or Briarcliff Entertainment saying, Does anyone have anything we can put on our screens? recalls Chris Randleman, the companys chief revenue officer.

Thats not the case this summer as exhibitors grapple with a different reality. Can several back-to-back blockbusters succeed at once? Or will the glut of big movies cannibalize each other?

Those are the big questions as popcorn season kicks into high gear with the arrivals of Harrison Fords Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30), Tom Cruises Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (July 12), Greta Gerwigs neon-coated Barbie (July 21) and Christopher Nolans atomic bomb drama Oppenheimer (also on July 21). All of those films carry big budgets and require outsized ticket sales to turn a profit.

Its complete day and night, Randleman says. In the last two years, if something failed, we didnt have anything for six weeks. Now if something tanks, you move onto the next one. Thats the way Hollywood always worked.

The hope is that all of these films will find their audiences. However, Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore, calls the month-long stretch between Indiana Jones 5 through Barbie and Oppenheimer one of the most competitive periods in recent memory.

This will be a stress test for the theatrical marketplace in the most important moviegoing season of the year, he says. The stakes are incredibly high.

So far, Hollywoods attempts this year at counter-programming have been disastrous. But thats because audiences didnt have an overwhelming desire to watch The Flash or Pixars Elemental, not because those movies were scheduled too close together.

Even as the box office recovers in fits and starts, there are signs that even in the pandemic era, several films can work at the same time. A prime example can be found in last summers debut of Jurassic World Dominion, which scored a mighty $145 million opening, even as Cruises enduring hit Top Gun: Maverick pulled in $51.8 million in its third weekend. Another weekend in the middle of 2022, four movies Baz Luhrmanns biopic Elvis and Blumhouses thriller The Black Phone, in addition to Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion each grossed $20 million or more in the same Friday to Sunday frame. Its a sign that this summers crop of newcomers can co-exist beyond their opening weekends so long as ticket buyers care to see them.

Its all about quality, says Armand Daiguillon, who owns Paradigm Cinemas in South Florida. Everything looks good on the horizon. But if the movies arent great, people will wait a month until they are available on streaming.

Movie theater owners believe the range of offerings will appeal to moviegoers of all demographics. Its the right mix of movies to not only survive but thrive off one another, says Randleman. Hes particularly high on Barbie because pre-sale tickets at his theaters have already been surging. I think itll be the true breakout of the summer, he adds. Everyone can survive. We have enough screens.

Daiguillon of Paradigm Cinema, however, is cautiously optimistic about a potential pileup. It would have been better if they separated things a little more, he says. We have a whole summer. These movies are all back-to-back in the same month.

Hes particularly concerned about the space between family offerings, like Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, which opens shortly after Pixars Elemental, and Disneys Haunted Mansion, which arrives just a few weeks later.

I wish there was at least another week between the kids stuff, Daiguillon says. Theaters do a lot of business with summer camps. If all the movies come out at once, theres nothing for them to see later on.

At least, Hollywood didnt forget about August, which is ripe for a sleeper hit. On the calendar, theres the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, R-rated comedy Strays and Meg 2: The Trench. Those movies arent (yet) part of franchises as big as Mission: Impossible or from filmmakers as beloved as Gerwig or Nolan. But The Trench, for one, is the sequel to 2018s disaster epic The Meg, which grossed $530 million worldwide. Says Randleman, Never bet against a shark movie.