Hollywood hits rock-bottom with lowest ticket sales since 1995

Most of this year’s much-anticipated movies–including 'Alien: Covenant' and 'The Mummy' failed to impress


Entertainment Desk December 27, 2017
PHOTO: FILE

Everyone complains about how high the cinema ticket prices are nowadays and that's exactly what consumers said to Hollywood this year. That, and “most of the movies sucked.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that the number of movie tickets sold in the US and Canada is expected to hit 1.26 billion in 2017, which is well below 2016’s 1.31 billion.

It’s the fewest amount of tickets sold in a year since 1995, when Toy Story and Batman Forever were in the lead.

Showdown at the box office

It’s true that there were a few huge breakout successes this year which include Star Wars: The Last JediWonder Woman, and Girls Trip. But more than a few of this year’s most anticipated movies–including Alien: Covenant and The Mummy slumped.

PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX

The last weekend of August was one of the worst months “No need to sugarcoat it, this was a miserable weekend. The combined gross of the top twelve failed to total over $50 million, something that hasn’t happened in an August weekend in over 20 years.” industry watcher Boxofficemojo.com said.

Harvey, the deadly hurricane-turned-tropical storm, led to some theatres closings in Texas, while Floyd Mayweather’s much-hyped session against Irishman Conor McGregor proved to be one of the biggest pay-per-view shows in history, Variety noted.

Even with about $2.6 million revenue added from showings of the fight, it was “certainly one of the worst over the last few years. Actual ticket sales, however, will be the worst domestically this summer in 25 years,” Boxofficemojo added.

PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: FILE

The Hitman’s Bodyguard, an action comedy from Lionsgate, tells the story of a famous bodyguard (Ryan Reynolds) hired to protect a notorious hitman (Samuel L. Jackson) who is about to testify in a high-profile trial.

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Salma Hayek plays Jackson’s wife. It has earned $40 million so far, according to Exhibitor Relations.

In second place for the weekend was Warner Bros.’ horror flick Annabelle: Creation, part of the popular Conjuring franchise. The film, starring Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia, took in $7.7 million, adding to its worldwide gross of more than $1 billion.

It seems that as ticket prices continue to get higher and higher, the only way to keep people away from streaming services and into a movie theater complex is by giving them original, non-repeated content.

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