It wasn’t the big-budget bullishness of Christopher Nolan that lured understandably wary audiences back to the multiplex after Covid struck. The director tried harder than most to be Hollywood’s head cheerleader for the cinema experience, insisting his sleek thriller Tenet be seen on the big screen and the big screen only back in the cursed days of 2020, but it was too much and too soon, and ultimately his film was too bad for it to work too well.
The film was by no means a flop, but it was a concerning under-performer, caveats and all, and it wasn’t until the following March that we found out what it took to truly lead the masses from their couch. Rather than style or sophistication, as Nolan had offered, it was the primal appeal of watching a giant ape fighting a giant lizard that roused crowds into a grand return, Godzilla vs Kong winning the title of first legitimate hit of the pandemic. Various hits have followed, most of them involving superheroes, but the film’s early global popularity remains telling. We knew audiences would rush back in droves for whatever guff had the Marvel logo attached, but it was a sign that there was another type of spectacle being craved.
