Despite three movies opening this weekend, the summer season is ending with its most disappointing box office in months, and the pandemic isn’t to blame.
This summer’s blockbuster season ends with its most disappointing weekend ever. box office yet, and the pandemic is not to blame. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic dealt a critical blow to cinemas. Quarantine requirements and production limitations have drastically reduced box office ratings and changed the way films are distributed. With many premieres postponed or released exclusively on streaming sites like HBO Max and Disney+, for a time it looked like movie theaters would never regain their pre-pandemic audiences.
Fortunately, the second half of 2021 brought better days at the box office, with hits like the MCUs Spider-Man: No Coming Home, which became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Then, 2022 brought with it the return of a true blockbuster summer season that saw several successful releases. Tom Cruise and his long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick were particularly successful among box office hits. The action film managed to become the highest grossing film of the year and has already surpassed Avengers: Infinity War on the national charts, grossing over $679 million. However, the high numbers seen at the start of the summer could not continue until the end.
Variety reports that the domestic box office generated approximately $52.7 million this weekend, a dismal performance for the season. These numbers are the lowest the domestic box office has seen in months and featured the lowest number one spot for the domestic charts since May 2021 with the supernatural horror flick.The invitation opening at a paltry $7 million. Directed by Brad Pitt High-speed train and Idris Elba’s survival thriller The beast rounded out this weekend’s domestic box office top three at second and third place respectively.
National box office charts saw similar numbers in 2020 and 2021 and were able to rebound when public concern over the coronavirus eased. However, unlike 2021, this weekend’s poor results probably cannot be contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, they are due to a lack of interest in the first lineup of the weekend. The other two films that debuted at the same time The invitation this weekend also performed poorly. by George Miller Three thousand years of nostalgia bombed, earning just $2.87 million, and break, what features Star Wars’ John Boyega, made just over $1.02 million in sales. This weekend’s three openings stand in stark contrast to the turnout for early summer releases, underscoring the general lack of interest and awareness among moviegoers. Overall, the lackluster box office performance was a disappointing end to an otherwise successful summer season.
While the next few weeks may continue to see low chart numbers, several premieres scheduled for the fall should once again rejuvenate ticket sales. These prints include Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller don’t worry darling and the latest DCEU installment black adam, which will see Dwayne Johnson play the title role. Still, theaters were already struggling to maintain steady numbers before the pandemic, so these sharp sales ups and downs shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. If the industry wants to strengthen the box office between major blockbuster releases, he’ll first have to think about how to drum up interest in smaller projects.
Source: Variety
