Weekend Box Office: Moviegoing Slows to a Standstill Amid Historic August Slump

Hollywood Reporter ^ | 8/25/2017 | Pamela McClintock

[simpson96]

Mother Nature certainly isn't helping the dramatic downturn at the August box office, where revenue for the weekend could hit its lowest level in more than 15 years, in addition to being down nearly 50 percent from the same frame last year.

Hurricane Harvey has prompted theater closures in Corpus Christi and other locales along the Texas Gulf Coast. Inland, numerous cinemas have also shuttered in Houston.

Even without the storm, none of the weekend's new offerings were expected to earn more than $5 million, and that's proving to be the case.

Animated family film Leap!, from Harvey Weinstein's shop, is projected to do the best, earning an estimated $1.6 million Friday for a projected $4.8 million-$5 million debut from 2,575 theaters for a third-place finish behind holdovers The Hitman's Bodyguard ($9 million) and Annabelle: Creation ($7.5 million), respectively. Hitman's Bodyguard will join only a short list of films to ever win a weekend with less than $10 million, at least in modern times.

[Drago]

Ticket sales peaked in 2002...down hill ever since:

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/

[who knows what evil?]

Notice they expanded ‘Wonder Woman’ into an ADDITIONAL 1400 theaters this weekend...guess they need the extra cash. :-)

[xp38]

too much drama in seafoam blue for me

[xp38]

It’s called spin which is another word for lying.

[N. Theknow]

Really? One weekend storm in one small corner of a huge nation is listed as a partial cause of a massive business shortfall?

Yep. You betcha. And the election caused the NFL to lose viewers last season. And if you believe all that... For Sale: Bridge over East River. All credit cards accepted.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Yoona - purely for purposes of further research. :)

The movie theater is an anachronism. Soon to go the way of Blockbuster Video.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I am not picky.

I like a well acted movie with a coherent plot and clever dialog.

Failing that, and they usually fail that, I will take something with lots of guns, spaceships and explosions.

But apparently we have seen all of these that are out as well.