Hollywood鈥檚 make-or-break season
The movie business is looking for more successes than it had last summer, as 'Wonder Woman' continues to perform well聽but new installments of the 'Cars' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchises experience their worst domestic opening weekends ever. Meanwhile, streaming services are encouraging some viewers to stay home.聽
The movie business is looking for more successes than it had last summer, as 'Wonder Woman' continues to perform well聽but new installments of the 'Cars' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchises experience their worst domestic opening weekends ever. Meanwhile, streaming services are encouraging some viewers to stay home.聽
Q:聽What happened at the box office last summer?
Audiences demonstrated they won鈥檛 always show up for a familiar movie title. Do you remember 鈥淣eighbors 2: Sorority Rising,鈥� 鈥淎lice Through the Looking Glass,鈥� 鈥淭he Legend of Tarzan,鈥� or 鈥淏en-Hur鈥�? Chances are you don鈥檛, as all of them, and many other sequels and remakes, underperformed at the domestic box office. However, this wasn鈥檛 the case for every sequel: 鈥淐aptain America: Civil War,鈥� the latest Marvel offering, and 鈥淔inding Dory,鈥� Pixar鈥檚 sequel to its 2003 movie 鈥淔inding Nemo,鈥� were big hits. But unlike many of their sequel brethren, they got mostly positive reviews from critics. Many of the sequels and remakes that tanked at the box office had been panned by critics, who told audiences there was no reason to turn out.
鈥淭hey were bad remakes; they were bad sequels,鈥� says Ross Brown, director of the Master of Fine Arts program in writing and contemporary media at Antioch University in Santa Barbara, Calif. 鈥淸But] sequels, in and of themselves, are not evil creatures. 鈥楾he Godfather: Part II鈥� won the [award for] best picture.... [Audiences] don鈥檛 mind seeing 鈥楩ill-in-the-blank Movie No. 26鈥� as long as it鈥檚 good.鈥�
2016 actually broke 2015鈥檚 record to become the biggest-grossing year for Hollywood at the domestic box office. But industry-watchers attributed that partly to tickets becoming more expensive. Attendance for movies was about the same as in 2015.
Q:聽So will this summer be different, with fewer remakes and sequels?
Probably not, and that鈥檚 because it takes so long to make a movie. Studios often can鈥檛 respond instantly to trends or audience reaction. 鈥淸There鈥檚 a] long lead time, especially with movies that have 鈥� which is true more and more these days 鈥� complicated visual effects and things that demand a very long postproduction schedule,鈥� Mr. Brown explains.
Indeed, moviegoers may have experienced some d茅j脿 vu Memorial Day weekend, which brought a new installment in what has become an increasingly poorly reviewed franchise, 鈥淧irates of the Caribbean.鈥� Also released was a big-screen version of 鈥淏aywatch,鈥� an old TV show. Critics slammed both movies, and audiences apparently listened: The domestic earnings for the holiday weekend were the lowest since 1999. 鈥淧irates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales鈥� had the worst opening for the series since the first movie, and 鈥淏aywatch鈥� is viewed as a financial failure.
Q:聽What about 鈥榃onder Woman鈥�?
On the other hand, 鈥淲onder Woman,鈥� which stars Gal Gadot as the female superhero, has become one of the summer鈥檚 early success stories. Like 2016鈥檚 鈥淐aptain America: Civil War鈥� and 鈥淔inding Dory,鈥� it received positive reviews and then had a strong showing at the box office. It posted the highest-grossing domestic opening weekend ever for a movie directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins).聽
With the success of 鈥淲onder Woman,鈥� audiences have demonstrated they鈥檒l turn out for a positively reviewed female-led superhero film. That probably gives the studio executives at Marvel even more confidence in their forthcoming movie 鈥淐aptain Marvel,鈥� which stars Brie Larson and is set to be released in 2019.
Q:聽How do streaming services factor into these trends?
In the age of streaming, theaters are fighting for audiences. Audiences can sit on the couch and watch an older movie on Netflix or Amazon. And Netflix is releasing original movies, skipping the theater altogether in some cases, as with the recent movie 鈥淲ar Machine鈥� starring Brad Pitt (though that film has not received good reviews).聽
鈥淵ou have 鈥� small pressure now, but growing 鈥� Netflix, where you can watch feature films in your home,鈥� Brown says. 鈥淎nd people鈥檚 home screens are bigger and bigger and [have] better resolution now, and so you can have quite an experience in your home that way. And you have access to these gigantic libraries of entertainment.鈥�
Q:聽Will Hollywood swear off sequels and remakes?
Perhaps for a little while, but Brown doesn鈥檛 think Hollywood will avoid familiar properties for long. 鈥淚f they have a bad run of luck, somewhere in the next year or two, they鈥檙e going to shy away from those types of stories,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd then somebody will break through with one of those types of stories that does really well, and everyone will change their mind again.鈥澛�
Movie studios aren鈥檛 the only ones in the sequel business: Brown points to NBC reviving 鈥淲ill & Grace鈥� for the coming fall TV season and Netflix bringing back the ABC show 鈥淔ull House鈥�; the second season of 鈥淔uller House鈥� was released in late 2016. 鈥淣ot insanely, the production companies and networks say, 鈥楾his is a property that worked for the audience and is a popular thing,鈥� 鈥� Brown says. 鈥� 鈥楲et鈥檚 try it again.鈥� 鈥�