The Hollywood Reporter is saying that for the second week in a row, a major Hollywood film has fallen short of expectations at the box office. The first was Speed Racer, which cost an estimated 160 million but only brought in 18.6 in its opening weekend. The second appears to be Prince Caspian, which did slightly better at 56.6 million over its first three days, while costing ‘only’ 100 million.
The reason for this “wobbly start for the lucrative summer moviegoing season in North America” is being placed on the fact that Prince Caspian is getting less than stellar reviews (although they made sure to point out that the title character is being played by a newcomer).
To me, the reason is a little simpler than bad (or not glowing) reviews. It’s one of simple economics. Ticket prices are high, concession prices are high, gas prices to get to the theaters are high and quite frankly, I think that if people are going to spend their hard earned money on a trip to the movie theater, they are going to spend it on known properties like Indiana Jones (out next week) or which had really cool trailers like Iron Man (which has made over 200 million dollars and is in line for not one but two sequels).
I was saving my money for Iron Man, Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight and The Hulk. Anything else would just be lost in the shuffle, relegated to ‘Get on DVD‘ status. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one and when the final tally is done after Labor Day, those four films will be at the top of the list for box office gross for the summer.
