(Newswire.net— September 28, 2017) –Summer tentpole movies have been the backbone of Hollywood for decades, but this year’s poor performances have studios and producers scrambling.
Big-budget movies that have underperformed have made this summer the lowest grossing in ten years, and that’s without adjusting for inflation or taking into consideration the increased cost of tickets.
Domestic ticket revenue only managed to gross $3.8 billion for the summer season, running from May till August.
In the four-month time frame there have been movies that have managed to perform well such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”, “Wonder Woman,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Dunkirk”. These are exceptions.
There is a long list of theatrical releases that have underperformed and failed to exceed their production budgets. Films such as: “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” “The Mummy,” “Pirates of the Caribbean 5,” and “Transformers 5” are some of the more notable ones.
The low summer intake has had an effect on stock value and share prices in the movie industry. AMC Entertainment, Regal Entertainment and Cinemark have had their stock down by 56%, 33% and 23% respectively and even IMAX’s stock value dropped by 40%. Even industry giants such as Disney and Viacom are down by 12.1% and 33%.
The low summer theatrical attendance is not the only way this year has been record setting for the movie industry.
This year has had the fourth-biggest January domestic gross and the third-biggest February.
“Beauty and the Beast” and “The Fate of the Furious” were strong spring openers.
September hits such as “IT,” “Kingsman: the Golden Circle” and “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” are making this the highest grossing September in box office history.
The remainder of the year has some blockbusters yet to be released. “Star Wars,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “The Justice League” and “Blade Runner 2049” are all expected to be top box office performers.
What we are seeing is a trend of super-hero and sequel fatigue. On the other hand there is the fact that audiences will go to theaters to watch compelling movies throughout the year.