10 Reasons Why 2016's Blockbusters Are Failing
1. Bad Word Of Mouth
Again, with the cinema experience as expensive as it is for first run movies, word of mouth and reviews are fundamental metrics for determining whether casual filmgoers check movies out.
Last year gave us a high quality list of event movies, with Jurassic World, Inside Out, The Martian, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Furious 7, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Spectre and a certain long awaited Star Wars sequel all making excellent money. Five movies last year easily cleared a billion dollars worldwide, compared to two this year so far.
And the vast majority of the films in the box office top twenty last year were well received by critics as well as audiences. With the exception of Fifty Shades Of Grey and Terminator: Genisys, every other movie received pretty damn good reviews: even the cheerful mediocrity of San Andreas, Home and Hotel Transylvania 2 wasn’t rejected so much as accepted with good humour. Word of mouth, traditionally warmer than the critics’ sharp tongue, was even better.
Contrast that twinkling reception to this year’s pie fight. Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad, the two DC superhero movies that were supposed to turn things around for the franchise, were murdered by reviewers. X-Men: Apocalypse fared around the same.
Out of the remainder of the top twenty grossing films, Now You See Me 2, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Legend Of Tarzan, Warcraft, The Angry Birds Movie and Ice Age: Collision Course received notices as bad, if not worse.
And audiences, by and large, agreed: the word of mouth was mostly dreadful. Batman Vs. Superman, a film that should have been immune to bad reviews because it’s Batman fighting Superman, had an 81% drop off after the first week of release.
Half of 2016’s tentpole flicks, designed to make money, have had the kind of reviews that actively turn people off from going to the cinema at all. “What’s on, honey?” “Well, there’s X, Y, and Z - but apparently they’re all nightmarish pieces of toxic waste, the kind of rancid turd cakes that make people want to read books.” “Jesus, never mind then. Netflix and chill?”
Conversely, this year’s well-reviewed movies - from punters and critics alike - have all made significant bank. It seems that, at long last, poorly conceived and executed event movies are being punished with bad box office as well as critical brickbats.