By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Cinemark Holdings, (NYSE:) Inc, announced Wednesday that it has signed up 1,000,000 paying subscribers for its Movie Club monthly subscription plan. This is a sign of a recovery in moviegoing following disruptions caused by the coronavirus epidemic.

According to the third largest chain of movie theatres in America, it is the first operator to reach the milestone of 1,000,000 subscribers.

Sean Gamble, the President and Chief Executive of Gamble, stated in an interview that it was a real positive momentum for them, however, it is also a reflection about what’s happening within the industry.

We see that as a sign of excitement about watching movies.

Cinemark Movie Club was launched in December 2017. It costs $10 per month to see a movie. There are discounts for additional tickets, concessions and many other benefits.

Extended closings and reduced ticket sales caused severe damage to movie theaters in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Comscore data shows that year-to-date US and Canadian sales are 40% lower than the 2019 equivalent.

Theater owners hope for strong summers, with big audiences to recent films like “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Over the U.S. Memorial Day Weekend, approximately $156 million was earned at Canadian and U.S. box office boxes for this sequel to Tom Cruise’s hit 1986 film.