The summer movie season of 2017 certainly saw a handful of highlights - including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman and Dunkirk - but on the whole the last few months have been rather dreadful for the box office. In fact, attendance hit a shocking 25-year low, and it's the first time in more than a decade that the $4 billion bar for the industry wasn't eclipsed.
The Hollywood Reporter has the rundown on the statistics, noting that there were a significant number of under-performers that did their part to keep box office figures low between May and August of this year. A significant problem was sequels, with movies like Alien: Covenant, Cars 3, War For The Planet Of The Apes, and Transformers: The Last Knight all doing way less business than expected domestically. This was a trend that began last year, but was in full bloom in 2017.
Of course, it's important to note that sequels weren't the only movies either failing to live up to expectations or straight-up flopping. Potential franchise-starters like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, The Mummy, and The Dark Tower all ate dirt when it came to reaching audiences. Even the far less expensive R-rated comedies of the season failed to get any traction at all, including Baywatch, The House, and Rough Night (Malcolm D. Lee's Girls Trip is a noteworthy exception, having now made over $100 million).
Superheroes did what they could to save the day, with Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming taking the top three spots of the seasonal box office, and the draw of Christopher Nolan helped Dunkirk make some money - but they could only do so much.
With any luck, the fall could help turn things around in 2017. The year started off strong with big hits like Beauty and the Beast, Logan, The LEGO Batman Movie, and Get Out, and there are good number of major blockbusters set to come out in the next few months that will hopefully even the keel after the rough summer. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, of course, is expected to have the attention of everybody in the world, but superheroes will also continue to have a strong presence with the arrival of both Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. The horror genre is well-outfitted with titles like IT, Jigsaw, and mother! looking like they could be strong performers around Halloween, and there are also big animated titles like Ninjago and Coco. One can also hope that the would-be Oscar contenders will be able to pull in a buck or two.
Why do you think it is that the box office numbers for Summer 2017 are so low? Why did you personally not to go the movies as much in the last few months? Answer our poll below, and hit the comments section with your thoughts.
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