The box office numbers & # 39; Dark Phoenix & # 39; and & # 39; Godzilla & # 39; are a bad sign for summer blockbusters



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Godzilla: the king of monsters

Source: Warner Bros. studios

It's starting to look like a cruel box office summer for big franchises. It started strong with "Avengers: Endgame", which earned $ 2.7 billion worldwide, but other potential blockbusters of 2019 have met a collective shrug on the part of moviegoers.

"Godzilla: The King of Monsters" was the most profitable movie of the weekend when it opened on May 31, but its budget of $ 48 million is well below that of summer. He fell to fourth place the following weekend and cashed only $ 15 million, a decrease of 68% from the previous week.

The films that pushed her from the front row did not get any better. The latest entry of the franchise "X-Men", "Dark Phoenix", made its debut at number two with a $ 33 million take, the worst box office performance in the history of "X- Men. " "The Secret Life of Pets 2" denied first place, earning $ 47 million, less than half of the $ 104 million that the original of 2016 had achieved during its weekend break. opening.

"[A]In recent weeks, the market is saturated with franchise movies and many of them are underperforming, "said Box Office Mojo, a revenue tracking site.

That being so, we must ask ourselves if the public is more and more tired of cinematographic universes, prequels, sequels, repercussions and reboots in general. And if that's the case, it could be bad news for the blockbusters that should open later this summer, such as "Toy Story 4" and "Spiderman: Far From Home".

"There were similar issues in the summer of 2016 and 2017, because of which a large number of suites and franchises released those disappointing years or disregarded the expectations of the company. opening of box office sales, "said Mark Pacitti, managing director and founder of the Woozle research firm in London. "Take, for example," Independence Day "," Ice Age "," Huntsman "movies in 2016. In 2017, we had the same trend with & # 39; Pirates of the Caribbean & # 39 ;. The same goes for the franchise & # 39; Transformers & # 39 ;, which is experiencing a commercial decline.

Daniel Green, director of the master's degree program in Entertainment Industry Management at Carnegie Mellon University, said it was true that many moviegoers were moving away from certain franchises, but that it was not the main cause of the box office disappointment. Sometimes the competition is too difficult to overcome.

"There seems to be some fatigue, especially for the franchise 'X-Men'," he said. "Spectators, especially fans, have already been impressed by" Avengers: Endgame "and, as critics did not push people to the theater," Dark Phoenix "was not a must see."

The author, actor and entertainment journalist, Christopher Lucas, said that studio politics and advertising strategies are much more important factors in box office performance than many realize.

Dark Phoenix

Source: Walt Disney Studios

"Dark Phoenix" is not a totally bad movie, it just got lost in the reshuffle of the Disney / Fox merger, "he said." Disney was putting all its marketing strength behind "Avengers: Endgame ", so that another movie concluding the saga of superheroes, acquired from another studio, has become an afterthought for them."

He added that in the case of "Godzilla: The King of Monsters", the problem was perhaps that the story did not make sense to the audience, which could have spoiled word of mouth .

"It was mainly the spectators' misunderstanding with the other monsters in the film and the confusion about whether Godzilla was a hero or a villain in this chapter," he said.

Despite its box-office performance, Godzilla will be back, not just because "Godzilla vs. Kong" is already scheduled for March 2020. Many franchises have gone astray and have continued to win over a wide audience, as long as the next movie is better than the last. a.

"Warner Bros. did not know what to do with the franchise 'Batman', then Christopher Nolan and Legendary gave their listeners Batman Begins, 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Dark Knight' Dark Knight Rises, Green said.These movies then earned $ 2.5 billion at the global box office, despite "Batman and Robin," who had been widely hated in 1997.

It is tempting to blame broadcasters such as Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video for contributing to the rapid disappearance of some hit movies. However, while the author and screenwriter of the entertainment, Christopher McKittrick, agreed that moviegoers might choose to wait a few months before a movie is streamed, the big screen shows always remain so attractive.

"Unfranchised films like" Bohemian Rhapsody "have found the right audience with great success," he said. "If the film is big enough in terms of show, positive word of mouth and marketing, people will still go to the cinema to see it, sometimes several times."

Christopher Lucas said that the basic principle is that if a movie is good, people will see it and if it stinks, they will not do it. He pointed out that this applied to all major franchises, even those that appeared to be in the resuscitation phase, such as "X-Men".

"The cinematic franchise" X-Men "will survive and be reinvented by Disney / Marvel after a break," he said. "The successful strategy is to go from the loser to the money, to take a break to refresh the audience, and then come back with another movie in the series."

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