Quality films faring best this summer

Hollywood is in the midst of its stormiest summer in years. Box-office ticket sales since the first weekend in May are down 8 percent from a year earlier, according to data firm ComScore, prompting the stocks of major cinema chains to drop.

But there’s one ray of sunshine as the exhibition industry struggles to get people to the multiplex: Critically acclaimed movies are actually doing robust business.

The summer movie season— which accounts for about 40 percent of annual box-office revenue—typically relies on generic popcorn fare with little regard for quality. But the movies that have earned virtually unanimous praise from critics—including “Wonder Woman,” “Baby Driver,” “The Big Sick” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming”—are the ones breaking out.

Conversely, movies that have been reviewed harshly, such as “Baywatch” and “The Mummy,” have also been rejected by American audiences, illustrating a hard reality in today’s changing marketplace.

Reviews can often mean the difference between life and death for a movie, as the big screen is facing greater competition for audiences’ attention. As prestige TV enjoys a golden age on HBO, FX, Netflix and Hulu, viewers are visiting review aggregation sites such as Rotten Tomatoes to decide what movies to see, if any. Early buzz is amplified by social media, where people share reviews and give their own opinions on what to see on the big screen.

“Getting off on the right foot is crucial and … having a film that is critically well received makes it much easier for our message to cut through the clutter,” said Adrian Smith, president of domestic distribution for Sony Pictures, which released “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Baby Driver.”

Some analysts have blamed the summer doldrums on an overabundance of sequels and reboots. Franchise fatigue has contributed to the disappointing domestic returns from Walt Disney Co.’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” and Paramount Pictures’ “Transformers: The Last Knight,” each the fifth installment in their respective series. (They’ve fared better internationally.)