Hey, Hollywood — just because it’s the dog days doesn’t mean almost every summer movie has to be a dog.
Last year was record-breaking; this year is mind-numbing. Last year we had “Iron Man 3.” This year? “Hercules.” Instead of the fun sequel “Despicable Me 2,” we got the dour sequel “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” Instead of Melissa McCarthy in the surprise hit comedy “The Heat,” we get Melissa McCarthy in “Tammy” — not surprisingly, a flop.
I never thought I’d say this about summer, but … is it over yet?
Sure, there was “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” — the summer’s lone five-star blockbuster — and the five-star “Boyhood,” which got indie hearts pumping, but virtually everything else made me feel like I aged 10 years in two hours.
No wonder U.S. moviegoers are finding other diversions. Ticket sales at the U.S. box office are down a whopping 20% compared with the same point during last year’s record-breaking summer.
When the World Cup is a bigger draw than the movie theater, Hollywood, we have a problem.
The usually fiery Fourth of July holiday was the worst in 10 years. And week after week, ticket sales are as depressed as an adult sitting through “Planes: Fire & Rescue.”
Ticket prices go up every year, but none of this year’s summer films are likely to hit the benchmark $270 million in North American sales.
Three movies — “Iron Man 3,” “Despicable Me 2” and “Man of Steel” — did last year.
But this summer is flopping like beach footwear: “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Blended,” “A Million Ways to Die in the West” and “Sex Tape” all failed to meet expectations.
This weekend’s “Hercules,” estimated to cost $100 million, looks to join them.
The summer’s biggest hit — “Transformers: Age of Extinction” — opened with $100 million during its first weekend, but it’s so lousy that it won’t make nearly what its makers had hoped.
It’ll also be the weakest of all four “Transformers” movies. Too bad Optimus Prime couldn’t shape-shift into an ATM.
And even movies that had auspicious starts this summer (“Godzilla,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Neighbors”) fizzled like Independence Day sparklers.
It doesn’t bode well for next week’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the movie about unknown superheroes that cost Marvel and Disney an estimated $150 million to make. But we’ll see.
So what killed this summer’s movies just one year after the best season of all time? Simple: lame movies, aging franchises and the continuing exodus of teens from the multiplexes.
But that’s not all!
* TV shows such as “Breaking Bad,” “House of Cards” and “Game of Thrones” have the must-see buzz now. And video games have a gotta-play-it urgency that is stealing Hollywood’s coveted demographic of guys 18 to 24.
* Video-on-demand, though niche and still nascent, has taken some urgency out of the movies. Some arthouse films offer at-home viewing on the same day as the theatrical release.
* Social media calls out the duds faster. “Crap is exposed faster, as people start talking instantly,” says industry analyst Gitesh Pandya, editor of boxofficeguru.com.
* And, yes, the World Cup kept people glued to their sets, and away from the multiplex.
The good news (for studios and moviegoers) is that better movies sell more tickets. Indeed, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” was a commercial and critical success, rising above the 2011 “Apes” reboot — a rarity among sequels.
Hollywood can find a way out of this mess — if it’s willing to change focus.
Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian notes that the paradigm of only chasing 18-to-24-year-old males in the summer isn’t the best model, and he’s right. Movies like “Maleficent” and “The Fault in Our Stars” brought women in, and were bright spots.
In fact, “Fault” should wake studio execs up to a new kind of hit formula: A hot title (in this case, John Green’s bestselling YA book) plus an underserved demo (girls and young women) plus savvy promotion minus overinflated budget equals a surprise smash.
“Fault” co-screenwriter Michael H. Weber agrees that counterprogramming could be one key to saving summer. “People want all sorts of things all the time, and movies have to adapt,” he says.
Change can be hard. But it’s easier than sitting through “Sex Tape.”