What started as a promising fiscal summer for the film industry in May with Disney’s “The Avengers,” ended in this weekend’s colossal failure in “The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure,” which became the lowest opening ever for a movie in wide-release, with $448,000. So, as the summer comes to an end, it’s time to review this summer’s box office.

While there were two huge hits in Disney’s “The Avengers” and Warner Bros.’ “The Dark Knight Rises,” both of which earned more than a billion dollars, these box-office successes were not enough. Ticket sales this summer were down an estimated 3 percent from last summer, according to Hollywood.com. Even with higher ticket prices and a string of other successes in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Brave” and “Ted,” why was this a declining summer for Hollywood?

The first reason for the declining summer box office was the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., on July 20, which killed 12 people and injured 58 others. It left many Americans uneasy about going to the movie theater.

Also, the London Olympics provided constant coverage and thwarted people from going to movie theaters, as entertainment was readily available online, on TV and even on mobile devices.

The main reason, however, lies in the movies themselves; studios simply were not releasing quality movies that resonated with audiences.

Though this summer may have been disappointing for those in the industry, there are important lessons that can be learned. First, star power is no longer a reliable source for box office success. This is evidenced by the box-office failures of stars like Tom Cruise (“Rock of Ages”), Adam Sandler (“That’s My Boy”) and even Johnny Depp (“Dark Shadows”).

Second, studios need to produce original movies that resonate with viewers. As long as studios are creative, audiences will continue to pay to see them, as proven by the successes of Universal’s “Ted,” Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike,” and Disney’s “Brave.”

The summer was disappointing for Hollywood, as movie-theater attendance dropped 4 percent to 533 million, and ticket sales declined 3 percent to $4.28 billion, according to research firm National Research Group. But based on the upcoming films slated until the end of the year (“Wreck-It Ralph,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Skyfall,” “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Django Unchained,” to name a few), it looks very promising for the industry.

– Compiled by Ian Tecklin, contributing writer, ijteckli@syr.edu

Published on September 6, 2012 at 12:29 am