The box office has been buoyant this year thanks to superhero films. This led to movie theatre operators thinking that people might be willing to go back to the cinemas in large numbers.

While domestic ticket sales in 2019 are lower than the pre-pandemic level of around 40%, cinemas have seen significant increases over 2018.

Blockbuster titles like Warner Bros.‘ “The Batman,” Paramount’s“Sonic 2”, and the Marvel–SonyComscore data shows that ticket sales have increased by nearly 400% since 2021 with the release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home”. This has resulted in $1.7 Billion in revenue.

CNBC has heard from movie theater owners that they are optimistic about ticket sales in the weeks ahead, especially after Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” opens. This will kick off summer’s blockbuster season.

Last year’s summer movies were disappointing. Theaters closed down and many moviegoers stayed at home due to coronavirus.

There was a fear among studios that new films wouldn’t be profitable so they resisted releasing them. Some even opted for postponement until 2022. Studios are now able to release films on the dates they have been set, despite many safety and health regulations being removed. Consumers seem more open to going back to movies, so studios can no longer postpone titles.

After the May 6th release of Doctor Strange, theaters will be seeing a steady flow of highly anticipated movies. In quick succession, the following films will be on display at theaters: “Top Gun: Maverick,” Jurassic World: Dominion,” Lightyear,” “Lightyear,” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru”. They all arrive over nine weeks.

“It’s entirely fitting that a Marvel movie will kick off the summer movie season of 2022 and along with it set in motion what looks to be the first ‘normal’ May through Labor Day corridor we’ve seen in almost three years,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

Dergarabedian stated that about 40% of domestic box-office revenue comes from the industry’s 18-week summer.

CinemaCon in Las Vegas is Monday. Exhibitors are optimistic about the future of Hollywood Studios and Hollywood theater owners.

That optimism was bolstered by “The Batman”‘s success and “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, which proved that even adults are willing to return to see franchise films. The success of “Sonic 2” has earned more than $126million domestically since it was released on April 8. This gives theaters hope that they can attract families to the Toy Story sequel “Lightyear” and the next film in the Minions series.

Fandango, a movie-ticketing website, released a Thursday report that found cinema returningees had also helped to boost concession business. Fandango conducted a survey with 6,000 moviegoers and found that 93% of them had purchased concessions in the last year. This is up from 84% the previous year.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents said that they had spent more than $20 on candy, popcorn and soda, as well as other concessions. This spending report is good news for theatre owners who do not split concessions with the studios as they do with movie tickets.

CinemaCon exhibitors next week will be discussing ways to entice moviegoers back to cinemas, as well as improving the overall experience.

Theater owners were creative in responding to the pandemic. They offered unique beverages and added mobile payment options. This allowed them to diversify their content.

According to movie theatre owners and box office analysts, 2022 will not be able surpass 2019’s $11.4 billion in ticket sales. However, they may still bring in nearly twice the $4.4 trillion last year. Many estimate that $8 billion will be generated in ticket sales with franchise movies acting as the catalyst.

Disclosure: Comcast, the parent company for NBCUniversal (and CNBC), is Comcast. NBCUniversal owns Fandango.