Weapons<\/a>,\u201d two original R-rated horror films, were unexpected smashes, signaling that audiences will take chances on new ideas from exciting directors. Could conventional wisdom about the dog days of summer be wrong, too?<\/p>\n\n\tThe routinely quiet period has fielded sleeper hits before; \u201cWeapons\u201d ($148 million to date) is shaping up to be this August\u2019s savior. However, the movie might not have much help in boosting the box office from the month\u2019s remaining releases, Ethan Coen\u2019s caper \u201cHoney Don\u2019t!,\u201d starring Margaret Qualley as a small-town detective; Darren Aronofsky\u2019s crime thriller \u201cCaught Stealing\u201d with Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz; and the Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman-led satire \u201cThe Roses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNobody expects anything from the last two weeks of August,\u201d says Chris Randleman, chief revenue officer at Texas-based circuit Flix Brewhouse.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo the supernatural \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites,\u201d the fifth installment in the long-running series, could benefit from pent-up demand. That film will debut on Sept. 5 alongside \u201cHamilton,\u201d a taping of the Broadway smash that\u2019s been available to watch on Disney+ since 2020. Then Hollywood is hoping for strength in numbers. Nine movies will open before September ends, including Lionsgate\u2019s dystopian Stephen King adaptation \u201cThe Long Walk,\u201d Sony\u2019s anime \u201cDemon Slayer: Infinity Castle,\u201d \u201cDownton Abbey: The Grand Finale,\u201d the Jordan Peele-produced sports thriller \u201cHim\u201d and Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s $140 million-budgeted \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d starring Leonardo DiCaprio.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNothing really looks like it\u2019ll be big, but volume will counteract that,\u201d Randleman says.<\/p>\n
\n\tDisney\u2019s sci-fi sequel \u201cTron: Ares\u201d opens on Oct. 10 and seems to be the industry\u2019s next best hope for a four-quadrant blockbuster. But attendance won\u2019t pick up in earnest until the video game adaptation \u201cMortal Kombat II,\u201d Elle Fanning-led extraterrestrial adventure \u201cPredator: Badlands,\u201d heist thriller \u201cNow You See Me: Now You Don\u2019t,\u201d \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d and \u201cZootopia 2\u201d begin to make their way to theaters in late October and November.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the years directly following COVID, such a barren stretch would plunge the business into despair. Now, though, analysts aren\u2019t worried about cinema operators suffering from the post-popcorn season blues.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re past the pandemic, and theater owners have done well enough with their balance sheets,\u201d says Eric Wold, a Texas Capital Securities analyst. \u201cThey can weather a short-term lull.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter a brutally slow winter (misfires included \u201cSnow White\u201d and Robert de Niro\u2019s \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d) and a surprisingly robust spring (thanks to \u201cSinners\u201d and \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d), experts describe the all-important summer stretch as steady. Revenues will fall short of the expected $4 billion milestone, and Disney\u2019s \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d has been the lone release to reach $1 billion. But there were other bright spots, such as \u201cF1: The Movie\u201d ($590 million) and \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d ($625 million).<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cCompared to the dire black-cloud sense that people had earlier this year, summer was a reminder that as long as studios make good versions of the right film, audiences will go to see it,\u201d says Lionsgate studio chief Adam Fogelson.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt this point, the overall box office is 6.4% ahead of 2024 but 23% behind 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, according to Comscore. Recent yearly gains are mostly attributed to increasing ticket prices and the popularity of premium large formats rather than rising attendance levels.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs fewer people go to the movies, chains like AMC Theatres are experimenting with ways to lift revenue. The world\u2019s largest circuit announced 50% off tickets on Wednesdays in addition to Tuesdays. AMC has also been quietly raising prices by $1 to $1.50 in certain locations on other days. As for the discounts, the verdict is hazy on whether they\u2019ll entice new patrons.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAre you adding customers who wouldn\u2019t have gone at all?\u201d Wold asks. \u201cOr are you shifting someone from opening weekend to a Wednesday because it\u2019s cheaper?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every August, Alamo Drafthouse prepares for a late-summer slowdown. \u201cWe joke that weekday business gets soft because parents…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":158810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,67,132,68,9826],"class_list":{"0":"post-158809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-weapons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115056354733439911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}