Re-Releasing Older Films Reminds Us Why the Movies Are Worth Saving

Published by Consequence on May 14, 2025 2:30 PM

Re-Releasing Older Films Reminds Us Why the Movies Are Worth Saving

Here’s why big chains like AMC and Regal, as well as smaller operations, are excited about the possibilities of revival screenings

Illustration by Allison Aubrey

Liz Shannon Miller
May 14, 2025 | 4:30pm ET
Consequence

At movie theaters like AMC and Regal this April, kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie and adult prestige horror film Sinners were the big success stories. However, elsewhere in the multiplex, 1996’s Happy Gilmore, 2005’s Pride & Prejudice, and Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith were also playing to full houses. The theaters were packed with laughter and cheers when the occasion called for it — despite all those movies having been around for 20 years or more.

Revival screenings and re-releases have been on the rise in recent years, in both big and small theaters, as the industry continues to bounce back from a tumultuous time. In fact, Amanda Salazar, programming director for the Los Angeles indie video store/revival theater Vidiots, tells Consequence that the 2020s have been “a very exciting time for repertory cinema,” something she attributes to the industry-wide shutdown that began in 2020 (for the obvious reason).

“We all had to shelter in place and reengage with cinema through streaming and physical media, revisiting work or visiting work that we hadn’t yet seen. An at-home film education took place,” she says. From Salazar’s perspective, seeing older films achieve box office success now is something she attributes to that time spent sequestered; people now want to experience movies they might have first watched at home “with the best picture and sound they can, and have that communal experience that they might have missed.”

Bringing older movies back to theaters allows companies from all sides of the industry to take advantage of the rich history of past cinema, while audiences get a chance to discover new-to-them titles or rediscover old favorites — often with some bonus materials or special surprises.

The motivations for why a movie might be re-released are many: Anniversaries are a big factor (both Pride & Prejudice and Revenge of the Sith are turning 20 this year), but not the sole determination. According to Ryan Wood, SVP and head film buyer for AMC Theaters, the decision to pursue re-releasing a movie could come from chains like AMC, but the majority of the time it comes from the studio. However, “it really takes a joint venture of the two parties wanting to get behind it.”

Is there a limit to what kinds of movies might play when re-released in theaters? In general, Regal Cinemas chief commercial Adam Rymer feels that “if anything’s built a history and a legacy and has positive connotations associated with it, I think there’s an opportunity” for it to succeed. One hypothetical idea Rymer mentions is 2016’s Warcraft, directed by Duncan Jones and based on the Blizzard Entertainment games. A new edition of the video game, or some other news surrounding the franchise, could provide “another opportunity for us to bring that back and say, ‘Hey, maybe you didn’t experience the first time around.’”

Ryan Turek, Blumhouse vice president of feature film development, feels that horror in general plays great as a re-release, “because it could be the worst movie in the world, but you’re bringing everybody together to laugh. There was a movie called Uninvited about a cat that gets possessed by a demon and then the cat jumps on a boat and starts killing people. I would love to see that with a full crowd of people who have never seen that movie before in their life. That would be incredible.”

For Blumhouse, re-releasing its movies is an opportunity to re-connect with its core audience of horror fans, via special event series like Blumfest and Halfway to Halloween. These special screenings, Blumhouse has found, can actually bring families together, because according to Blumhouse head of marketing Karen Barragan, “parents, particularly moms, are the ones that tend to introduce their kids to horror, really.”

The company has numbers on this: In a survey of self-proclaimed American horror fans in 2023, Blumhouse found that 95% of respondents watched horror movies with family members, including parents (60% mom, 49% dad) or siblings (44% sister, 39% brother). For 69% of survey participants, watching horror movies was seen as “a family bonding ritual.”

“There was a generation of parents who had seen Halloween when they were young,” Turek says. “And so when we did the reboot of the Halloween, there were people bringing their kids to the theater. It’s a generational gift, passed from from parent to child: ‘When you get older, I’ll show you that movie, but it’s going to be in a theater like I saw.’ And that’s super-cool.”

Coraline (Laika Studios)

Families also turned out in a huge way for the Fathom Entertainment re-release of Coraline in 2024; the acclaimed LAIKA film from 2009 earned $34 million for the company. Co-owned by theater chains AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, Fathom specializes in special theater-based event screenings ranging from broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera to re-releases: According to numbers provided by Fathom, in 2024 revenue from classic film box office releases made up nearly 40% of the company’s total revenue — $60 million out of a record total of $154 million.

Fathom CEO Ray Nutt says that up until Fathom’s success with the faith-based The Chosen series, Coraline was the company’s biggest film release ever. He also thinks that the current state of re-releases is evolving, and that “our hope is that it gets larger — because we continuously think of new things to do.” This includes ideas like re-releasing the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy over the course of three weeks, creating a multi-week event.

Beyond the release strategy, supplementing these screenings with bonus material gives them an extra power. For its Halfway to Halloween series, Blumhouse brought the movies M3GAN, Annabelle, and Ma back to theaters for a limited run this April and May, with attendees receiving special giveaways and previews of upcoming Blumhouse movies. “When you go to the movie theater and you see a special message from a favorite director like James Wan, talking to you out in the crowd, I think that’s pretty cool,” Turek says.

Like Blumhouse, Fathom also leans hard on including bonus material for its audience, like having esteemed film critic Leonard Maltin provide filmed introductions for classic re-releases. “Those are the kind of things that are going to grow this,” Nutt continues. “You can’t just take an old film and slap it on the movie theater screen. It goes much deeper than that. You have to do things differently to appeal to audiences. If you do that, they’re going to show up.”

No one knows that better than the folks at Alamo Drafthouse, which began as a revival house in Austin, Texas before blossoming into a nationwide theater chain. From the beginning, the company’s founders made a point of event-izing their screenings — “this P.T. Barnum tradition,” as Jake Isgar, Alamo’s head of alternative content and specialty programming, puts it. “Big events and getting people in the head space of the movies they have.”

That continues to today: This summer, Alamo is gearing up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws with special screenings, including “Jaws on the Water,” where moviegoers will watch the classic film while floating on inner tubes. According to the official description, “As everyone watches Chief Brody and crew on the hunt for the Great White, floaters might feel something tug on their toes as scuba divers provide an added thrill to the proceedings.”

Whether on land or sea, what’s most exciting about revival screenings is the way they remind audiences about the simple pleasures of going to a movie theater and engaging in that communal experience. In April 2025, while A Minecraft Movie and Sinners ruled the box office, the re-release of female-skewing Pride and Prejudice also made $2.7 million in its opening weekend — a surprise hit for Focus Features/Universal.

“I would never have guessed that [Pride & Prejudice] would’ve done as well as it did,” Wood says. “So I think anything can be [re-released], as long as there is support from both parties and is released on the right date.”

For re-releases don’t just bring people back to the theaters — they can offer counter-programming to the new movies that might not be serving all audiences. “Especially as the first run business has its ebbs and flows, it’s important to have a calendar that offers opportunities for people on a weekly basis,” Isgar says. “Not every week is going to have a Thunderbolts or a Sinners or a Mission: Impossible. But you want to engender that habit of movie-going.”

On a personal level, getting to see Pride & Prejudice in theaters in April was a true joy: The jokes played great, the audience was engaged, and there were even a few gasps at Mr. Darcy’s hand flex. Above all, it brought to mind a line from the Apple TV+ series The Studio, a wistful reflection from Catherine O’Hara’s former studio head: “When it all comes together and you make a good movie… it’s good forever.”