Box office movies took a beating this summer, with only $3.44 billion made for the period of the first weekend in May through last Sunday, Deadline reports.
It is the worst summer in 25 years, and major studio and specialty distributors will not be releasing any new wide releases Labor Day weekend because of it.
Ticket sales for this past weekend dropped 32 percent from a year ago, with “Nut Job 2” recording the worst all-time opening for a film in 4,000-plus theaters, making only $8 million. “Anabelle Creation”, a horror film, topped the box office with $35 million this past weekend, while popular war film “Dunkirk” came in second with $10.9 million.
Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” has been a bright spot, with $363 million in sales worldwide since opening day July 21 and $153 million in domestic sales.
Other movies that stood out during the summer were “Wonder Woman” and “Baby Driver”.
Directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg four years ago warned of a “blockbuster implosion”, according to a report in ShowBiz 411.
“That’s the big danger, and there’s eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown,” Spielberg said at a USC symposium.
“There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm.” he noted.
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