Hollywood fearing worst box office summer in a decade

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 currently sits atop the worldwide box office, Disney and Marvel’s sequel having already grossed over $500 million.

However, the latest box-office predictions state the first weekend of May through to early September takings will be down five to 10 percent on last year.

According to the Los Angeles Times, that’s a total loss of $450 million as the overall Summer gross in the US is expected to fall from $4.45 billion to $4 billion, the worst in a decade.

While seemingly a relatively small percentage, for the entire cinema industry it could be quite disastrous. The publication states how many executives are worried there are just too many sequels and franchises overflowing the market.

“Some of the tent poles are just not as strong this year,” 20th Century Fox head of domestic distribution Chris Aronson says. “Pirates of the Caribbean? It's the fifth one. Transformers? It’s the fifth one.”

Fox has just released their sixth instalment in the Alien franchise — Alien: Covenant — and are releasing the third in the rebooted Planet of the Apes series, War for the Planet of the Apes.

Films to get excited about in 2017

22 show all Films to get excited about in 2017

1/22 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director: Rian Johnson Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o Plot: No details yet, but it will continue directly on from Rey coming face-to-face with Luke at the end of The Force Awakens. Release Date: 15 December 2017

2/22 Thor: Ragnarok Director: Taika Waititi Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo Plot: Story details are minimal as of now, but Thor's third return to screen has already been teased to feature a loose adaptation of the famous 'Planet Hulk' storyline. Release Date: 27 October 2017

3/22 Song to Song Director: Terrence Malick Cast: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, and Cate Blanchett Plot: Two intersecting love triangles. Obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas. Release Date: Unknown

4/22 Wonder Woman Director: Patty Jenkins Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen Plot: After leaving her all-female island, Wonder Woman discovers her full powers and true destiny while fighting alongside soldiers during World War I. Release Date: 2 June 2017

5/22 The Circle Director: James Ponsoldt Cast: Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega, and Karen Gillan Plot: A young female tech worker takes a job at a powerful internet corporation, quickly rises up the company's ranks, and soon finds herself in a perilous situation, which that involves privacy, surveillance and freedom. She comes to learn that her decisions and actions will determine the future of humanity. Release Date: 28 April 2017

6/22 The Beguiled Director: Sofia Coppola Cast: Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, and Angourie Rice Plot: A Union soldier is held captive in a Confederate girl boarding school, and begins to con himself to each of their hearts. Release Date: 23 June 2017

7/22 You Were Never Really Here (image from Her) Director: Lynne Ramsay Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola Plot: A war veteran's attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring goes horribly wrong. Release Date: Unknown

8/22 Annihilation Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A biologist's husband disappears. She thus puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not quite find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. Release Date: Unknown

9/22 Wonderstruck (image from Far From Heaven) Director: Todd Haynes Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Amy Hargreaves Plot: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection. Release Date: Unknown

10/22 Suburbicon (image of director George Clooney) Director: George Clooney Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A crime mystery set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal. Release Date: Uknown

11/22 Okja Director: Bong Joon-ho Cast: Ahn Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Paul Dano Plot: A young girl named Mija risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend — a massive animal named Okja. Release Date: Unknown

12/22 Dunkirk Director: Christopher Nolan Cast: Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, and Mark Rylance Plot: Dunkirk opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in. Release Date: 21 July 2017

13/22 Mother (image of Darren Aronofsky) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, and Ed Harris Plot: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. Release Date: Unknown

14/22 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (image from The Lobster) Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone Plot: A surgeon forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, with disastrous results. Release Date: Unknown

15/22 Blade Runner 2049 Director: Denis Villeneuve Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto Plot: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Release Date: 6 October 2017

16/22 Lady Bird (image of director Greta Gerwig) Director: Greta Gerwig Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, and Lucas Hedges Plot: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year. Release Date: Unknown

17/22 The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (image of director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance) Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Mark Rylance, Oscar Isaac Plot: The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Release Date: Unknown

18/22 How to Talk to Girls at Parties Director: John Cameron Mitchell Cast: Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon. Release Date: Unknown

19/22 The Dark Tower Director: Nikolaj Arcel Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Taylor Plot: Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world. Release Date: 28 July 2017

20/22 The Shape of Water (image of Guillermo del Toro behind the scenes of Crimson Peak) Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Plot: An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1963. Release Date: Unknown

21/22 Alien: Covenant (image of director Ridley Scott behind the scenes) Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Noomi Rapace, and Guy Pearce Plot: Headed toward a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew members of the colony ship Covenant discover what they believe to be an uncharted paradise, but it is actually a dark, menacing world in which the only inhabitant is the synthetic David, a survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. Release Date: 19 May 2017

22/22 Baby Driver Director: Edgar Wright Cast: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, and Kevin Spacey Plot: A young, music-loving expert getaway driver is coerced into a heist for a mob boss, which threatens his life, love and freedom. Release Date: 18 August 2017

Whereas sequels were once guaranteed hits, thanks to more savvy cinema-goers — in part, thanks to social media — they have begun flopping. For instance, last year saw Star Trek: Beyond, X-Men: Apocalypse, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Alice in Wonderland all underperformed.

“Man, this is depressing,” one insider told LA Times. “It is just entirely sequels and franchises, and something’s got to give.”

This summer’s flagship non-sequel films include King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Baywatch, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and The Dark Tower — the former has received relatively negative reviews already while the other three have failed to excite major numbers.

The only original blockbuster to be gathering much word-of-mouth buzz is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, starring Tom Hardy, Harry Styles, and Kenneth Branagh.

Box-office analyst Jeff Bock also spoke about the rise in streaming quality TV shows, thanks to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prim and Hulu in the US.

It’s not all bad news though. Hopefully, with blockbusters not being so dominant, the likes of Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, the Charlize Theron-starring Atomic Blonde, and A24’s It Comes at Night will make big sums this summer.