The summer movie season has done little to help ease a bumpy year at the box office.
Revenue from the summer, which stretches from the first Friday in May to Labor Day, is roughly 2% behind last year. The drop is not disastrous (it was down 14% two summers ago), but it does burden a domestic box office that is already down 6% overall.
That’s not to say there weren’t any bright spots. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” was the first film in the series to make more than $1 billion worldwide. “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, two R-rated films, both found an audience. But this summer’s slate of films mostly didn’t “live up to the hype,” according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore (SCOR).
“Brands still matter, but you have to have content that delivers and offers the moviegoer an exciting in-theater experience,” Dergarabedian told CNN Business. “Short of that, audiences today have way too many options to settle for just an OK experience.”
The summer was especially harsh for sequels like “Men In Black: International” and “Dark Phoenix,” both of which failed to meet industry expectations. “Dark Phoenix,” made only $252 million globally, which makes it the lowest-grossing film in the otherwise lucrative X-Men franchise.
If it was a rough summer for sequels, it was even worse for comedies.
Universal’s “Good Boys” and “Yesterday” are the only comedies in the top twenty highest-grossing films of the summer. Other such as “Long Shot,” “Stuber” and “Late Night” fell short at the box office.
“Movies are like coffee, they’re better when they’re fresh,” Dergarabedian said. “Many of this summer’s sequels and comedies seemed derivative and lacked a fresh perspective. That was met with indifference from audiences.”
The summer of Disney
The summer may have been lackluster for just about everyone else in Hollywood, but it wasn’t for Disney (DIS), which produced three of the top five highest-grossing films of the summer.
“The Lion King” and “Toy Story 4” are at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The live action remake of “Aladdin” came in at No. 4.