CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Top Gun: Maverick has business at box offices booming which is just what movie theaters needed as they continue to recover from losses they've suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve had our first few sellouts in two years," Movies Inc. owner Zachary Farnsworth said. "So it’s — yeah — big time.”
He owns two theaters in the Coastal Bend — one in Calallen and one in Aransas Pass.
The latter opened just eight weeks before the pandemic forced them to close both locations for more than a month.
Farnsworth says there were "absolutely" times in which he thought his theaters would go out of business.
"It was tough," he said. "But we made it, so everything’s good.”
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Now his theaters are starting to see a resurgence with early summer blockbusters hitting the big screen.
Jurassic World: Dominion — released Friday — will likely keep the money pouring in.
"We’re just now getting sellouts and back to normal as much as we can," Farnsworth said. "So it's awesome."
As far as the latest installment of the dinosaur movie franchise — some people who watched it at Movies Inc. Calallen Friday liked what they saw.
“It was really good," 11-year-old Chloe Lopez said. "It had a lot of twists and turns."
Janie Harper, said "I liked it," who drove 20 miles from Sandia to see the movie.
Other potential blockbusters are in pipeline in the months to come.
Farnsworth hopes you'll see them in a theater as opposed to waiting until you can stream them at home.
“I don’t think you can replace (the movie-going experience)," he said. "Seeing it with people in the theater and the popcorn and the Coke and everything.”
