Summers are usually the season to go to the movies, when studios released their fun pop-corn flicks for the out-of-school and summer vacation crowd. But what happened to this summer? I haven’t gone to the movies once because there haven’t been any that I’ve been interested in.
Sure enough, according to the article excerpted after the jump, the summer box office has been a disaster for Hollywood. One reason given is Netflix and what I have noted as the renaissance of television!
We’re thinking about taking in The Planet of the Apes sequel this weekend. Is it worth seeing? Are there any other movies that you would recommend?
From Box-Office Slump: Hollywood Facing Worst Summer in Eight Years – Hollywood Reporter:
The season is expected to finish down 15 to 20 percent compared with 2013, the worst year-over-year decline in three decades, and revenue will struggle to crack $4 billion, which hasn’t happened in eight years. As a result, analysts predict that the full year is facing a deficit of 4 to 5 percent. . . .
Although there have been no Lone Ranger-size debacles, for the first time since 2001 no summer pic will cross $300 million domestically (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent and Transformers: Age of Extinction hover near $230 million). May kicked off with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 earning $200 million less domestically than 2013’s Iron Man 3; by July 20, the divide had swelled to nearly $690 million as revenue topped out at $2.71 billion, down 20 percent compared with the same period last year. . . .
Also contributing to the malaise is a lack of family product (including no Pixar movie), the allure of TV and myriad ways consumers can view entertainment in their homes. (Laments one studio executive, “I wish I worked at Netflix.”)
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