Amidst industry-wide gloom over a weak summer box office, Chris Aronson is still determined to save the theatrical experience from extinction. As Paramount’s head of domestic distribution, he sees the challenges but he’s relieved that the legacy studios now seem to agree: It’s not a great idea to send movies straight to streaming. He got some help in that argument from a certain Paramount star.
“Tom was adamant that Top Gun: Maverick was made for theaters,” says Aronson. “And I think all you need to do is look at the worldwide theatrical box office of $1.5 billion and say, ‘Yep, he was right.’”
Aronson explains why he still believes that movie theaters will survive. But he argues that the lack of consensus about the length of the theatrical window doesn’t help that cause.