Hollywood suffered its worst weekend box office in 16 years, as the worst summer movie season in more than a decade nears a merciful end. This weekend’s revenue is estimated at $65 million in North America, the weakest weekend showing since September 2001. While August and September are traditionally the slowest months for moviegoers, this month has been particularly bad. August revenues are down 35% year-over-year, according to comScore, while the summer as a whole is down 13.4% from last year. And don’t expect a Labor Day rally there are no major releases scheduled for next weekend, and the next blockbuster scheduled is “Blade Runner 2049” on Oct. 8.
“To show you how dead the box office really is, ‘Wonder Woman’ is expanding and they’re rereleasing ‘Baby Driver.’ Two films from June are coming back to take advantage of the lull. If that’s not telling, then I don’t know what is,” ComScore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told MarketWatch last week.
The action-comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” from Lions Gate Entertainment LGF.A, +2.00% took the top spot for a second week in a row, with $10.1 million in ticket sales. That was followed by the horror flick “Annabelle: Creation,” with $7.4 million, and the children’s animated movie “Leap,” with $5 million.
Some analysts blamed the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view fight Saturday night as a drain on ticket sales. The fight was simulcast to nearly 500 theaters, and actually ranked as the ninth-best box-office draw, with $2.4 million. The impact of Hurricane Harvey was also cited as a reason why crowds in some regions avoided movie theaters.
