North American theater owners unveiled plans for new capital investments over three years to draw moviegoers out of the house with a more premium experience at the local multiplex.

A group of exhibitors in the U.S. and Canada will invest more than $2.2 billion over the next three years to upgrade and modernize their theaters amid renewed optimism at the box office after a battering by Covid and Hollywood strikes,

Ahead of its annual fall summit, the National Association of Theater Owners says that eight of the top movie theater chains in North America are committed to invest a combined $2.2 billion in modernizing and upgrading their cinemas over the next three years.

The pandemic accelerated the video streaming migration, which was the death knell for the cinema business. Movie theater stocks haven’t made headlines since the meme stock mania in 2021. However, in 2024,