Hollywood faces worst summer in eight years
As the El Nino heatwave reaches its peak, Hollywood is facing its worst summer box- office drought in eight years.
The season is expected to fi nish down 15 to 20 per cent compared with 2013, the worst year- over-year decline in three decades, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Overall revenue will struggle to crack the US$ 4-billion mark.
Comparisons in North America are tough, considering revenue hit a record US$ 4.75 billion in summer 2013.
Worsening the scenario was that following the death of Paul Walker, “Fast & Furious 7” had been pushed from July to April 2015.
“Moviegoing begets moviegoing, and we have lost our momentum,” complained Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian. “People aren’t seeing trailers and marketing materials. They still want to go to the movies — they just want to go to really good movies.”
Although there have been no “Lone Ranger”- size debacles, for the fi rst time since 2001 no summer movie will cross the US$ 300 million mark in North America.
“X-Men: Days of Future Past”, “Maleficent” and “Transformers: Age of
Moviegoing begets moviegoing, and we have lost our momentum. People aren’t seeing trailers and marketing materials. They still want to go to the movies — they just want to go to really good movies.
Paul Dergarabedian, media analyst
Extinction” hover near US$ 230 million. May kicked off with “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” earning US$ 200 million less in North America than 2013’s “Iron Man 3”; by July 20, the divide had swelled to nearly US$ 690 million as revenue topped out at US$ 2.71 billion, down 20 per cent compared with the same period last year.
International returns remain strong, making up for some of the damage, but in certain cases they aren’t enough. “SpiderMan 2” topped out at US$ 706.2 million globally, notably behind the US$ 757.9 million earned by “The Amazing Spider-Man” in 2012. “I would have liked “Amazing Spider-Man 2” to make a lot more money for us than it did, but it made a lot of money for us anyway,” Sony cochairman Amy Pascal said in a recent interview.
“X-Men” is the only blockbuster that has earned more than its predecessor domestically (“X- Men: First Class” grossed US$ 146.4 million in 2011), contributing to Fox’s best summer in years.
But Paramount’s “Age of Extinction” has grossed far less than previous “Transformers” movies domestically, though it will be the fi rst 2014 fi lm to hit US$ 1 billion worldwide thanks to US$ 300 million in China.
“Young men haven’t been as enthusiastic as usual,” fi gured analyst Phil Contrino. “Maybe (studios) shouldn’t just go after this demo when building their summer tentpoles.”
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.
Filmmaker Jon Favreau agreed that the popularity of television and new technologies are altering viewing habits. “I think times are changing. We have to acknowledge that and not try to chase what used to be,” said Favreau, who is readying “Jungle Book” for Disney.