What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

[ScriptShadow]

So we all know the summer box office is not going well compared to last year. Last summer we started with Iron Man then got Indiana Jones on Memorial Day. Both of those movies grossed more than 300 million. Nothing's even come close to 300 million this year.

What I'm curious about is if the studio execs will just chalk this up to the economy and move on, or if they'll blame it on something else. Lord knows they'll never admit that they just aren't making good movies.

But it's important because do they all sit down and say "We have to be safer?" Or do they realize that they actually have to take more chances? What do you think the studios will do?

[alitel]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Star Trek, Angels & Demons, and X-Men Origins have broken $300 mil worldwide.

[wcmartell]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

I hate not being able to rattle off some numbers, but the only thing I could get so far this week is a single line in the E! box office article that says attendance and box office are still ahead for the year.

I think this really is a weird summer - too many big films every weekend, so none are doing massive numbers, but *overall* box office is still up. Has there ever been a summer where we had *two* big films open on almost every weekend?

I think this is a summer where we get pecked to death by a million films, instead of have three or four big ones.

- Bill

[WriteByNight]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

It will not be a slow summer. As long as movie tickets are cheaper than travel arrangements in a recession.

[Signal30]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Well, if following Suit tradition... no matter how the summer goes it went horribly, and it's everyone else's fault but theirs.

[Terrance Mulloy]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

TERMINATOR: SALVATION
Theatrical Performance as of may 31st took back no 3 on the us charts

Total US Gross $90,949,924
International Gross $23,100,000
Worldwide Gross (so far) $114,049,924

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/TERM4.php

Country Date

USA 14 May 2009 (Hollywood, California) (premiere)
Canada 21 May 2009
Kuwait 21 May 2009
USA 21 May 2009
South Korea 22 May 2009
Egypt 27 May 2009
Indonesia 27 May 2009
Philippines 27 May 2009
Hong Kong 28 May 2009
Japan 28 May 2009 (Movix) (premiere)
Singapore 28 May 2009

Rest of the world (awaiting release)

Argentina 3 June 2009
Belgium 3 June 2009
Finland 3 June 2009
France 3 June 2009
Iceland 3 June 2009
Ireland 3 June 2009
Netherlands 3 June 2009
Sweden 3 June 2009
UK 3 June 2009
Australia 4 June 2009
Chile 4 June 2009
Croatia 4 June 2009
Czech Republic 4 June 2009
Denmark 4 June 2009
Germany 4 June 2009
Greece 4 June 2009
Hungary 4 June 2009
Israel 4 June 2009
Kazakhstan 4 June 2009
New Zealand 4 June 2009
Portugal 4 June 2009
Russia 4 June 2009
Slovakia 4 June 2009
Ukraine 4 June 2009
Austria 5 June 2009
Brazil 5 June 2009
Bulgaria 5 June 2009
Colombia 5 June 2009
Estonia 5 June 2009
Italy 5 June 2009
Japan 5 June 2009 (limited)
Lithuania 5 June 2009
Norway 5 June 2009
Poland 5 June 2009
Romania 5 June 2009
South Africa 5 June 2009
Spain 5 June 2009
Turkey 5 June 2009
Venezuela 5 June 2009
Japan 13 June 2009
Mexico 31 July 2009

Domestically, this film is struggling to break even. However I suspect TS will most likely clock in around $300-400 million once it's finished it's worldwide cinema run. If that's the case, well, not bad I guess for a $200 million budget (estimated) - but not exactly a roaring success either. Still, I hope they move ahead with T5.

[instant_karma]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

What I'm curious about is if the studio execs will just chalk this up to the economy and move on, or if they'll blame it on something else.

Probably just stick with an old classic and blame it on file sharing.

[Biohazard]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Bad movies is the only excuse.

Yeah, Indy was bad, but people didn't care because it was Indy.
Iron Man was a good film, and did well.

T4 had terrible word of mouth and is a spectacularly awful film.
Angels & Demons is a crappy sequel to the atrocious Da Vinci Code.
Star Trek is underwhelming and plagued with errors.
Wolverine just sucked.

I hope and believe that Up will do well.

[prescribe22]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

What excuses will wilson make if the summer ends up with comparable numbers to last year?

[Moviequill]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

I think this is a summer where we get pecked to death by a million films, instead of have three or four big ones.

- Bill

good. it's nice to have choices

[Richmond Weems]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

T4 had terrible word of mouth and is a spectacularly awful film.

But it'll open HUGE in Estonia. Fingers crossed that Kazakhstan gives it more love than they did Borat.

On pins and needles,
HH

[prescribe22]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Just saw this interesting info:

Year-to-date revenue stands at $3.61 billion, up 13.63 percent over last year. Attendance is up 11 percent.

Hmmmmmm...

[maralyn]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Whereas domestic violence and child abuse is up 6 fold.

Hard economic times. Maybe the need for escapism is up too.

[wcmartell]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

Just saw this interesting info:

Year-to-date revenue stands at $3.61 billion, up 13.63 percent over last year. Attendance is up 11 percent.

Hmmmmmm...

THOSE were the numbers I was looking for!

T4 is taking a nose-dive in the USA - started out comparable to T3... but last weekend dropped more than T3. What's interesting is that the big difference between T2 and T3 was in weekend #5. T3 just fell off the face of the earth after a month in cinemas, T2 stuck around with repeat viewings.

Joke all you want about Estonia, but those guys love a good robot movie! And outside USA/Canada is 70% of a movie's income. I think T4 will play *better* outside USA, because it does work as a big dumb summer action film (just not as a Terminator movie) and I think those people in Estonia will just be glad it's not another drama about an angry young man trying to reconcile both his Nordic and Slavic roots in a post-Soviet Estonia. In the past, big dumb summer action movies that were brushed aside here do well out there.

Strange - this was supposed to be a black hole summer caused by the strikes, with no movies to see... but instead we have a glut.

- Bill

[Terrance Mulloy]

Re: What excuses will the studio execs come up with for the slow summer?

But it'll open HUGE in Estonia. Fingers crossed that Kazakhstan gives it more love than they did Borat.

On pins and needles,
HH

I know you jest, but I wouldn't be so quick to snicker at foreign markets. Like Bill said, it averages out to be 70% of income, at the very least. The success of a movie is not entirely measured on domestic revenue alone.

Why do you think actors and directors are forced to travel overseas to do press junkets, promos and premieres?

Take Japan for example. A country that is obsessed with technology, anime and robot toys. Take a wild guess which Michael Bay movie Dreamworks will be plugging to death over there?