10 Reasons Why 2016's Blockbusters Are Failing

8. They’re Sticking To An Outdated Model

Popstar: Never Stop Stopping was a critically acclaimed comedy by the guys behind The Lonely Island, loved by everyone who saw it. Unfortunately, that group comprised about forty people, half of whom saw it at the barbecue Andy Samberg threw on July 4th.

Financially, it's hard to understand why a film like this was released in cinemas in the first place. It was never going to get decent distribution, and mockumentaries are already a hard sell.

There’s an old-fashioned mindset in Hollywood that if your feature isn’t in theatres, it’s not a ‘proper’ movie. ‘Straight to DVD’ has had a stigma attached to it since it was called ‘straight to video’ - now it’s ‘straight to streaming’.

Popstar could have made back its miniscule budget had it been sold to an online platform, where its adroit, savage satire would have easily found the audience it deserved.

But that’s just the most glaring example of the problem. It’s incredibly hard to make a profit on a film released in cinemas - what people keep forgetting is that, on average, the studio only claws back around half the money the film brings in. The theatre chains themselves get the other half.

When your movie is a $20million musical comedy, it’s bad enough. But Batman Vs. Superman was a $250million beast of a flick with a likely minimum print and advertising spend of $200million, and it made $873million worldwide. That kind of box office should have made the film a hit. Instead, the studio’s share of the take represents less than they spent on making and marketing it.

There are, of course other factors involved. To use the same example, an action film featuring the first ever cinematic collision between the two most famous superheroes in history should have made more money than a sequel to a thirteen year old cartoon about a fish with Alzheimer's. The fact that Finding Dory comfortably defeated the World’s Finest team-up at the box office doesn’t speak well of how Batman Vs. Superman was regarded.

However, clinging to an antiquated model about how to distribute your film to the consumer isn’t helping any of these films make a profit.