Hollywood has plenty of movies. Why are theater screens sitting empty?

On August 3, AMC announced the highest-revenue weekend in its 106-year history. More than 10.2 million people had gone to AMC and its Odeon subsidiary’s theaters, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey leading the box office. It was a sign that, financially at least, movie theaters are looking much healthier than they did a few years ago. Still, the recovery is not as straightforward as the box office numbers suggest. This summer brought in $4.76 billion at the North American box offi...