LOS ANGELES - The moustachioed brothers of "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" and Ryan Gosling's unassuming teacher-turned-astronaut in "Project Hail Mary" are civilisation-saving heroes in their own worlds. But cinema owners here on Earth also feel pretty grateful to them.
The two films have drawn stellar audience figures in the last few weeks, pushing the US box office to its best start to the year since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The North American movie industry, which is in a constant battle with booming streaming services, surpassed $2 billion in receipts by the first week of April for the first time this decade, according to Box Office Mojo.
Although the figures do not yet match pre-Covid totals, cinema owners are "very excited," said Michael O'Leary, CEO of Cinema United, the world's largest trade organisation for movie theatres.
The positive results -- up 23 percent year-on-year -- come as theatre owners prepare to gather in Las Vegas for their annual CinemaCon meeting, where studios offer a sneak peek of their upcoming slates.
O'Leary said that along with big-budget crowd-pleasing US films, a growing suite of international fare is helping to sustain cinemas.
"It's not just movies from Hollywood that people are interested in," O'Leary told AFP in an interview.
"I think a lot of it is that people are drawn to compelling stories. It doesn't really matter where you live or where you're from, or even what language you speak... you want to have a compelling and interesting story."
O'Leary said there is also a generational element in the optimistic audience numbers.
"You've seen the... industry reinvest in itself, focus on creating even more grand and exciting experiences at the theater, and you're starting to see audiences come back, particularly younger audiences," he said.
"Gen Z is kind of leading the way. It's the fastest growing demographic of habitual moviegoers."
A decade ago, filmgoers in the United States and Canada would frequently spend more than $11 billion annually at the cinema, but since the pandemic, the total take has not exceeded $9 billion.
This year's string of big releases has sparked hopes that there could be a return to such lofty numbers.
The opening weekend for Amazon MGM's "Project Hail Mary" logged a healthy $81 million, and was followed up by "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" with $131 million.
Upcoming releases expected to do well include Michael Jackson biopic "Michael," "The Devil Wears Prada 2," "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu," "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," "The Odyssey," and the third instalment in the epic "Dune" series.