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U.S. box office slumps to worst summer in years

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Because most of what they are making is dross.

Amen.

Dear Hollywood,

Quality, not quantity. You're welcome.

Sincerely,

Everybody with more maturity than a 13 year old

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Because most of what they are making is dross.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

All these blockbusters have the same formula and audiences are getting tired of it. Any surprise?

When you try to mass-market crap, eventually people get fed up. I like big-budget films every once in a while, but its just getting more and more difficult to be excited by movies these days.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Netflix and Hulu and other on demand services offer thousands of titles for like 10 bucks each month. The last movie I saw in theaters was Phantasm! ANd like most newer movies the newer Phantasm will be straight to "on demand".

Ra'men!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Online digital entertainment is the new paradigm and hollywood is failing to adapt.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Wakarimasen,

Exactly. Most of the movies have pretty much the same story line and look like they were designed by a committee.

Make some good movies and people will go and watch.

Churn out the same old crap and people would rather stay home.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Alot of the big-budgeted Hollywood movies that are released in theaters are aweful. Not to mention that a matinee costs around $9.00 ($11.00 for regular screenings), $3.00 extra for 3D glasses & $8.00 extra to sit in one of those vibrating D-BOXes. Sometimes I wonder how many of the poor, starving children that could've been saved with the money Hollywood had wasted?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Personally, I'm soooo tired of superhero movies. It's lazy movie-making (no need to come up with an original story/characters) and a cash cow Hollywood continues to milk. Getting real old, real fast.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It would appear that the majority of Hollywood only reads comic books and thinks that is what the rest of the world reads. There is an unmeasurable number of really, really great books in the world that would translate to great movies and television programs if someone only had the insight to bring them to the screen.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

agree, so much of Hollywood's output is sub standard

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Going to movies are to darn expensive these days.

Took my little nephew to watch Guardians over the Labor day weekend, ticket prices plus concessions set me back $ 50 bucks.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

$50 bucks for one trip to movies is about half the cost of a quad-core Android tablet that'll stream HD fine.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Hollywood has the answer whenever ticket sales seem to sag... raise the price of tickets. They have total control over ticket price, after all. Slow year? Add a dollar to each ticket and voila! Instant blockbuster!

It's a little-known fact that the production companies get 100% of the ticket sales at your local theater. The theater has to pay their expenses (utilities, etc.) and employees out of concession sales and theater rentals. That's why a medium bag of popcorn and a medium soda can cost more than $10.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Hollywood is out of ideas and lack creativity.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

They put a good movie in the theaters, and ya guys still wouldn't see it. Because it's too expensive!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The only reason the theaters were making more money is because they kept charging ever higher prices.

Now there's no reason to go to the theater - you can get a better experience in your own home, cheaper, on your schedule, with your cheaper food and drink.

Add in a bunch of formulaic, bad movies and you get a recipe for a declining business.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I didn't even want to watch the summer trailers, let alone the movie!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Hollywood has no one to blame but themselves. They raise ticket and concession prices, then charge extra for 3D, and they devote most of their budget towards films they pray will become franchises. Television offers you so much more variety with so much more depth and stronger stories, not to mention a plot that takes time to figure out.

Obviously, making better films will help, but they have to make a trip to the theatre an experience again. In the 1930s, after the Great Depression, they had to be clever to bring people in. Theatres had art gallaries, actual restaurants, nurseries, billiards, gave away tupperware sets and not to mention people probably talked less during the film than nowadays in a typical theatre.

Theatre owners have to get creative again.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

So many good comments as to why theaters are failing. TV of course is its worst enemy. And throw in theater sound plus huge HD screens that people have shelled out a lot for. Video shops, on line downloading. These are things Hollywood already knows. I suppose a knockout punch is coming when 4k is going to in about 50% of living rooms before long.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Complain, complain, complain. Winter Soldier was amazing. And the new Godzilla was fantastic too. So stay away from the theaters if you don't like movies. I don't care if you miss out. At least I won't have to put up with your ringing cellphones while you're watching the news on TV (and complaining).

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

“The Expendables 3,” which made only $34 million despite an all-star cast including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford."

The main problem is that cast.

Too bad there wasn't another Star Trek movie this year, it would have made tons of money like the last two have.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

heres a thought, how about making new release movies available online to watch soon after it comes out in Cinemas and not just available in the US, otherwise people will just keep watching pirated copies online for free. id be happy to pay a charge for watching it on my TV/PC in HD. sadly this is a way off yet

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I'm disappointed people didn't like my suggestion that the FIFA Men's World Cup cut down on movie ticket sales. Even the movie studios earlier this year estimated back in the spring that the World Cup would cut ticket sales by around 11% compared to 2013, especially since the World Cup happened right at the very height of the summer moviegoing season (June and July); the reality was the ticket shortfall was 15% down from 2013 levels.

People have suggested what great source material we could use to bring back the summer blockbuster. I wonder has anyone thought about a big-budget live-action adaptation of the original storyline from Mobile Suit Gundam, especially now that the technology is finally available to make it look really good? If properly written and directed (and with the full cooperation of Yoshiyuki Tomino, who created the concept), it could be something I'm really looking forward to see on the big screen.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I'm surprised the article didn't consider one factor: the 2014 FIFA Men's World Cup. Because the World Cup happened between middle June to middle July 2014 with its gigantic worldwide television audience, that pretty much took away much of the viewing audience for summer blockbuster movies right at the very peak of the summer blockbuster movie season.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Television is the new (old) preferred medium, with more and more big-name stars making the return. Why pay $20 or so to go see a two-hour flick with possibly an open-ending so you have to wait until two years from now for the sequel, when you can turn on the TV and tune in to see equally if not better programming and story every week for free (well, for the cable cost or cost of DVDs, etc.)?

Pirating, of course, also steals from the box office numbers.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

No; it's because there is plenty of entertainment on the NEWS. Between unjustified police shootings, your " Golfer in Cheif's indifferent attitude of Foreign Affairs ( i.e. ; Al Quieda, ISIS, etc) who needs to go to the MOVIES ?

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

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