The Bad Blockbusters (Mostly) Bombed

For every Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales raking in $781.5 worldwide, there’s the financial failure of virtually every other critically maligned big budget sequel or franchise entry.

Sure bets like the Dwayne Johnson-Zac Efron comedy reboot of Baywatch and Ritchie’s aforementioned rock ‘n’ roll take on King Arthur “dragged down” box office profits for studios, according to Variety. Analyst Jeff Bock told the outlet that the poor box office performance could be blamed on one factor, “and that’s the over-reliance on sequels catching up to Hollywood… Every one save for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 disappointed.”

Franchise fatigue is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but we may be seeing its true beginnings with this summer season.

However, even many of box office failures are an indicator of a singular summer movie season, David Ehrlich at Indiewire points out. Movies that were met with audience indifference and mixed critical reaction like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and even The Book of Henry, were at least trying to do something “truly special,” he writes. They may have been messes, but they were spectacularly hot messes. Even if I haven’t seen Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry, I will always remember where I was when the review embargo for it broke.

Genre Films Have Never Been Better

Superhero movies by nature are hit or miss, but in the Year of Our Lord 2017, by gosh they delivered. (Shout out to Logan for starting us off right way back in March). Wonder Woman is the highest grossing movie of the summer domestically, recently crossing the $400 million mark in U.S. grosses. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming hold the next two top slots. All of them have over 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with both Spider-Man and Wonder Woman in the 90% range.

And the memorable releases aren’t limited to superhero movies. Ridley Scott took his beloved sci-fi series a step further toward insanity with Alien: Convenant, a movie that divided critics and flopped at the box office despite/because of it being something truly singular and unique. War for the Planet of the Apes, the third entry in the rebooted sci-fi series, is easily one of the best blockbusters of the year, pushing the limits of genre filmmaking.

Last but not least, Dunkirk, one of the most successful blockbusters of the summer and one that represents the intersection of all my previous sections: a genre film with an original story helmed by an auteur director who broke out on the movie scene in mid-budget movies. Christopher Nolan is unfortunately still seen as the exception by Warner Bros. rather than the rule — their new directive to avoid working with auteurs except for box office giants like Nolan or Spielberg is counter to everything that made this summer great. But hopefully, the unlikely success of Dunkirk, which was initially predicted to have a weak opening and potentially lose to the Emoji Movie (it did not) may steer studios back to auteurs.

The Women Are the Strong Ones, Truly

Where movies lead by bankable male stars failed, female-led movies soared.

The power of Wonder Woman is unquestionable, but let’s not discount the critically praised Girls Trip, this year’s crass female-led comedy that always ends up surprising studio executives with its success.

The star power of female leads like Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman, Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde, and breakout star Tiffany Hadish in Girls Trip is a force to be reckoned with.

Gadot’s inspiring turn in Wonder Woman certainly opened the door for more female-led superhero movies, with Marvel eyeing Wonder Woman as it prepares Brie Larson to take the mantle of Captain Marvel, and DC Films stuffing its slate with Gotham City Sirens and Batgirl.

Theron’s vicious and brutal turn as an MI6 spy in Atomic Blonde has /Film’s Vanessa Bogart making the case for a new kind of “chick flick,” one that involves complex and capable women.

Can this summer season be the turning point for women in movies? It’s hard to say, though it’s no question that women were part of the turning point in this year’s truly great summer movie season.