LOS ANGELES, March 21 (Reuters) - Tom Cruise takes on

what may be his final "Mission: Impossible," a new Superman will

wear the red cape, and the record-setting "Avatar" sci-fi series

will return to movie theaters this year.

Those films and more are giving cinema operators hope that

the long recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue in

2025. Five years after the start of the health crisis,

moviegoing has not fully rebounded.

Box office receipts totaled $8.6 billion last year in the

United States and Canada, 25% below the pre-pandemic heights of

$11.4 billion in 2019.

The film industry was disrupted again in 2023 when Hollywood

writers and actors went on strike.

"That complex matrix of filmmaking, where everyone wants the

best talent and the best actors and the best sets, it takes a

long time to get that running again," said Tim Richards, founder

and CEO of Europe's Vue Cinemas. "2025 is going to feel the tail

end of that."

Top names in the movie business will gather at the annual

CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas early next month to talk about

the state of the industry.

The conference draws executives from Hollywood studios and

multiplex operators such as AMC Entertainment ( AMC ), Cinemark

and Cineworld as well as owners of single

theaters in small towns.

At the Academy Awards this month, "Anora" filmmaker and best

director winner Sean Baker delivered a "battle cry" for

filmmakers, distributors and audiences to support theaters.

"The theater-going experience is under threat," he said,

noting that the number of screens shrunk during the pandemic.

"If we don't reverse this trend, we'll be losing a vital

part of our culture," Baker added.

Shawn Robbins, Director of Movie Analytics at Fandango and

founder and owner of Box Office Theory, said the movie business

was adjusting to "a new normal."

"Event movies are increasingly drivers of the business,"

Robbins said. "There's even more weight on their shoulders in

terms of box office dollars."

Moviegoers still turn out for big-budget films, Robbins

said, but have shown they are happy to wait to watch others at

home.

"It is very common knowledge that a lot of movies will be

available to stream within three to eight weeks, whereas it used

to be a minimum of three months," he said.

'AVATAR' AS TIPPING POINT?

Among the big hitters coming to theaters this year are

"Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," a movie that may be

Cruise's last appearance in the long-running action franchise.

"One last time," he says in the trailer. The film will debut

over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend in May, along with Walt

Disney's ( DIS ) live-action version of animated classic "Lilo &

Stitch."

Brad Pitt plays a Formula 1 driver in the June release

"F1," and in July, Warner Bros will release its new

"Superman" movie directed by "Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker

James Gunn and starring David Corenswet.

From Marvel, the anti-hero team "Thunderbolts" will kick off

the summer moviegoing season in early May, followed by "The

Fantastic Four" in late July.

Around the November and December holidays, offerings include

the second part of musical box office phenomenon "Wicked,"

animated sequel "Zootopia 2" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the

third film in James Cameron's "Avatar" series. The first

"Avatar" is the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the

second movie ranks third.

Robbins projected 2025 would end with a slight increase in

domestic box office receipts compared with last year, "maybe

flirting with $9 billion." He said it is unclear when ticket

sales will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Richards said he believed the new "Avatar" would kick off

"an extraordinary three to five years" for cinemas.

"We're going to see (Avatar) as the tipping point," Richards

said. "2026 has got an extraordinary number of great films."