Action-film franchises here to stay, even flops

When “Transformers: The Last Knight” arrived in theaters in June, virtually everyone hated it.

The fifth installment in Michael Bay’s robotvehicle franchise was the worst-reviewed yet, earning a dismal 14 percent on RottenTomatoes and dubbed “2017’s Most Toxic Movie” by Rolling Stone magazine.

With a $44 million opening weekend, less than half that of the previous film, “The Last Knight” is shaping up as the worst performer in the series by far.

But guess what? The studio, Paramount Pictures, is not only working on a sixth “Transformers” film but also recently began shooting a spinoff, “Bumblebee,” about a feisty Volkswagen bug.

“Transformers” is part of what you might call the Summer of the Living Franchises. Shunned by audiences and blasted by critics, the Hollywood properties somehow keep stumbling forward.

Universal Pictures’ “The Mummy,” released in June, has been a box-office disappointment, but the studio still plans to create a multifilm “monsterverse” starring the Wolf Man, Frankenstein and other classic Universal movie creations.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” another badly reviewed and poorly attended film, could also pave the way for a sixth film in the series.

If nobody seems to like these movies, why do they keep getting made? One reason is the increasing dominance of Disney, which owns three dependably highgrossing movie brands: Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.

Last year, Disney became the highestgrossing studio with more than 26 percent of the total box office — a larger share than any other studio has earned this century, according to the website Box Office Mojo. As a result, other studios are trying to duplicate Disney’s success with their own franchises and “universes.”

“Disney is so dominant in this market that the other studios have to play their game,” said Bruce Nash, founder of the boxoffice tracking website TheNumbers.com.

With a schedule that includes roughly five movies a year that are likely to earn more than $500 million apiece — upcoming titles include Marvel’s “Black Panther,” Pixar’s “Coco” and the untitled “Star Wars” spinoff based on Han Solo — Disney is “just going to keep cranking those out,” Nash said. “And all the other studios are going to have to compete. So you’re just going to get a schedule of cookiecutter movies that all feel the same.”

The repetition might bore American moviegoers, but Chinese audiences remain entranced.

China last year added more than 7,500 movie screens for a combined 39,000, a close second to America’s 40,475 screens, according the London-based research firm IHS Markit.

For a Chinese moviegoer who hasn’t yet seen “Transformers” or “The Mummy” on an IMAX screen or with state-ofthe-art effects, “that’s a completely different experience,” Nash said.

In short, movies that play terribly at home can often succeed overseas, which encourages studios to make more of the same kind.

“So,” Nash said, “we’re stuck.”

There have been a couple of bright spots this summer: “SpiderMan: Homecoming” has earned more than $672 million worldwide at the box office, and “Wonder Woman” is nearing the $800 million mark.