A couple of weeks ago, there have been some reports of how the box-office was doing during the summer movie season. While these reports didn’t hand out specific numbers, they basically said that the summer of 2017 was the worst summer for movies in 25 years. That sounds suspiciously like hyperbole to me. So, being the intrepid movie blogger I am, I decided to actually try and take a look at the numbers and see if those reports were accurate. Bear in mind, that a lot of these numbers are not going to include marketing costs. Also, they aren’t necessarily going to be one hundred percent accurate because some of these companies refuse to release their numbers. One more note before we begin, my numbers come from Box-Office Mojo. So, if you want to take a look for yourself, I’ve included a link to their website. So, let’s see how bad the summer of 2017 was for movies.
The first thing I did was compare this year’s summer draw to that of previous years going all the way back to 1992. Here are the numbers, starting with 2016 going back to 1992:
2016: $4,452,138,253
2015: $4,460,872,561
2014: $4,058,023,698
2013: $4,851,137,978
2012: $4,305,232,111
2011: $4,326,713,619
2010: $4,215,426,660
2009: $4,303,984,081
2008: $4,160,697,308
2007: $4,210,520,687
2006: $3,732,453,450
2005: $3,567,356,579
2004: $3,842,295,369
2003: $3,751,162,389
2002: $3,597,801,083
2001: $3,378,160,693
2000: $3,001,153,212
1999: $3,199,354,115
1998: $2,824,208,840
1997: $2,465,428,506
1996: $2,391,455,399
1995: $2,311,108,408
1994: $2,348,735,086
1993: $2,177,675,687
1992: $1,656,748,641
Those are the totals for each summer going back 25 years. These are the actual(or as close to the actual numbers as we can get) numbers for each year. As you notice, once you get past the first decade, the numbers seem to shrink considerably. Again, factoring in inflation, the numbers tend to get skewed a little bit. But, as you can see, for each consecutive year, the numbers are quite impressive. At least, until you hit 1992. That was NOT a good year for movies at all. It had some major hits, but it was not the most spectacular of summers. Now, let’s take a look at the summer of 2017: $3,735,494,165. Seems pretty impressive, right? Wrong. When you adjust it for 1992, this is what you get: $1,656,811,800. That’s only SLIGHTLY better than 1992. So, the question is: Are the reports about the 2017 summer movie season being the worst in 25 years correct? The answer is yes. So, what happened?
To get a sense of what went wrong, I’m going to take a look at a few of the movies that were deemed box office bombs during the summer. I’m only going to look at the domestic take. The first film I’m going to look at is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. According to Dark Horizons, Jerry Bruckheimer came out and defended the film’s performance. Now, the final take of the film was about 800 million, but that’s including the foreign market, where it did far more business than it did here in the states. In the states, the film didn’t even come close to hitting it’s budget. At 173 million dollars on a 230 million dollar budget, that’s considered a big-time flop. Most American movie studios would prefer that their movies perform better here in the states first, before relying on the international market. While Bruckheimer is well within his rights to defend his movie, I hope he understands that Pirates 5 is nowhere near as successful as the previous films were. I’m not saying the film wasn’t successful, but it was certainly the weakest entry in the series, both critically and financially.
Let’s take a look at The Mummy next. Domestic take? 80 million dollars, give or take on a 125 million dollar budget. The movie fell flat on its face. Why? It’s a movie that nobody asked for with very highly questionable marketing and PR. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword: 39 million on a 175 million dollar budget. It crashed and burned. Alien Covenant? 74 million on a 94 million dollar budget. Not entirely a flop, but a major disappointment. 20th Century Fox is reassessing the future of the franchise as a result. Transformers 5: 130 million on a 217 million dollar budget. Are we starting to see a pattern here? A lot of these movies aren’t even coming close to hitting the mark, at least not domestically. Some of them have been saved by the international market, but that’s no guarantee that we’ll ever see a sequel or follow-up. Terminator: Genisys got saved by the market in China, but Paramount Studios put a hold on any direct sequel. We’re getting another film, but it’s not going to be a direct sequel, at least, not as far as I can tell.
So….why did these movies crash and burn and basically take the summer movie season with them? Ultimately, I feel it was a combination of bad decision-making on the part of the studios, viewer fatigue, and rising ticket prices among other things. Now, we’ve also had film-makers and directors come out and slam Rotten Tomatoes for the piss-poor film performance during the summer. Even without the numbers, I can tell you that is nonsense. Film-makers are underestimating their audiences like they have the past couple of years. People are getting kind of tired of sequels, re-makes/reboots, and everything in between. Not to mention the ticket prices. The average ticket price today is about $8.85, give or take depending on the theater and location and whether or not the film is in 3D. Let’s face it, more people are going to be spending their time in front of their TV’s and computers when they have options like Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. These platforms also have some very incredible material to draw from, so people are not going to the movies unless it’s something worth going to see. The summer of 2017 has proven that the summer movie season is not as strong as it used to be. The strongest movies are being released late winter/early spring and during the holiday season.
Now, be aware that this is MY personal observation on the 2017 summer movie season, so it may not jive with someone else’s point of view. With the exception of Wonder Woman, Galaxy of the Guardians, and Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2017 has seen the weakest summer in a very long time. Hopefully, things will improve next year.