Bad Summer for Blockbusters

The 2016 summer movie season has peppered crowds with much-anticipated films including “Independence Day: Resurgence,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “The BFG,” and more.

But despite the giant tentpole films from studios, America has ultimately shrugged its shoulders. This summer movie season is already filled with far more duds than hits.

The “golden goose” has evaded most attempts at blockbusters this summer season.

“This summer movie season is ridiculous. It’s just too many movies. Studios are shotgunning out blockbuster after blockbuster. What they don’t realize is: You’re killing the golden goose,” screenwriter John Sullivan, who penned the upcoming “Security,” tells LifeZette.

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The “golden goose” has evaded most attempts at blockbusters this summer season. Besides Disney’s bona fide hits “Civil War” and “Finding Dory,” nearly every major release has underperformed.

“Independence Day: Resurgence,” a sequel 20 years in the making, hasn’t even cracked $100 million dollars against its giant $165 million production budget.

Then there’s “Warcraft,” the much-anticipated adaptation of the long popular video game. In theaters since June 10 and packing a $160 million budget, the flick hasn’t even limped its way to $50 million.

Add to that the disappointing takes of sequels like “TMNT 2,” “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” and “Neighbors 2.” Are audiences tiring of Hollywood’s obsession with sequels, reboots, and anything with a modestly well-known brand name?

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“I would say that audiences are craving more originality — particularly with how good TV is at the moment — not necessarily less sequels, reboots, but more original sequels, reboots, or spin-offs,” Bobby Lee Darby, screenwriter behind “See No Evil 2,” told LifeZette. “Look at ‘Deadpool’ — it succeeded because it felt fresh.”

“Deadpool” was, in fact, a colossal hit for the Hollywood economy. Its surprising profitability paired with other 2016 hits like “Zootopia” have helped to at least keep the 2016 box office on track — for the most part.

Despite some summer weekends being below the same weekends from the year before, box-office earnings have been relatively steady. However, the steady pace can be chalked up to a handful of strong earners. The numbers haven’t distracted industry watchers and insiders from shaking their heads and growing nervous at a summer movie season filled with disappointment after disappointment for American audiences.

“No matter how you slice or dice the calendar, there is no question that the summer of 2016 thus far has been a bit of a bummer, with the underperformers outnumbering the overperformers and a general malaise that has struck the early part of this most important moviegoing season,” box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of comScore, a company that analyzes various market trends in a handful of industries, told The Hollywood Reporter.

He blamed it on the “preponderance of sequels that have been unable to match their immediate predecessors in box-office dollars and critical and audience acclaim.”

In other words, Hollywood relied on brand-name titles and expected audiences to show up in hordes. Spoiler: they didn’t. There are also a number of other possible reasons this summer movie season has ultimately disappointed.

There’s the fact that people may be looking for something beyond sequels and reboots.

With endless properties being revived and exploited, some people just want something different. The films that have found success this year (“Deadpool,” “Zootopia,” “The Jungle Book”) have either been entirely original or clever enough spins on already established properties.

Then there’s the continuing rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. Some of them are even getting into the movie business. Netflix has already snagged Adam Sandler for exclusive rights to his last two features, and they’ve begun debuting original films with stars including Paul Rudd and Ellen Page.

Then there’s the scariest possibility of all for Hollywood — the movies just aren’t that good. 

Despite the sinking domestic grosses, don’t expect change anytime soon. The market has grown more international, which can account for much of the non-appeal of films in the United States. Hollywood makes its bucks in places like China these days.

“Warcraft,” while an epic flop in America, has earned over $400 million when you include foreign markets. Even duds like “Independence Day” and “TMNT 2” have scrounged up considerable money in their international pushes. Could the focus on international box office be leading to lazier entertainment and an increasingly disappointing freight of films from Hollywood?

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“Studios need to start scaling down budgets and stop relying on international grosses to make a profit. Nothing wrong with having China make all the movies profitable eventually, but what we get in the States is lazy product that is based on the business plan of ‘Oh, this movie stinks, but it’ll recoup internationally,'” Sullivan says.

This summer season still, however, has a chance to fight for box office bucks. “Jason Bourne,” Star Trek Beyond,” and “Suicide Squad” — all big summer movies — have yet to enter the ring.