by: keaton marcus

The year of 2019 started off with trembles in the box office, and it quickly fell over 20% behind last year’s pace; despite hits such as “Aquaman”. Later on chart toppers such as “Us”, “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and “Captain Marvel” started to dig the year out of the coffin.

Then to put the odds even more towards 2019, “Avengers: Endgame” opened. Then John Wick: Chapter 3” surprised. Furthermore, “Shazam!”, and “Detective Pikachu” all opened with impressive 50M+ debuts, the Spring was massive. Later even the reboot of “Aladdin” scores big on Memorial Day weekend, boosting the year’s checks even more.

We were right on the brink of the Summer box office, Spring over-performed, and the weekend had an anticipated 70M three day for the “Godzilla” sequel, then the first issue arises. “King of the Monsters” opened to just 47.7M, which wasn’t terrible, but was the first of many underperforming Summer sequels.

The following weekend, early June, we saw two sequels flop on top of the charts. “The Secret Life of Pets” was projected for around 68M, and opened to just 46.6M. Additionally, “X-Men” installment, “Dark Phoenix” had predictions that reached 55-60M, and ended tanking with a franchise low of 32.8M, and it cost 200M.

It doesn’t stop there, two more sequels (or reboots in this case) fell below expectations once again. Ring leader number one was poorly-reviewed “Men in Black International” which was projected for 45M originally, before opening to just over 30M, topping the charts, but earning a franchise low, and diminishing chances for sequels. Secondly, right outside the top five was another critically panned reboot, “Shaft” which was on its way towards a three day of around 20M, before completely restricting to just 8.9M.

Then, it quieted down a little next weekend, where highly anticipated “Toy Story 4” arrived to save the day. Still, even the biggest film of the Summer got nipped by the slump, projected for a mighty 180-200M, before a debut of 120.9M. Easily topping the box office, earning a franchise record and excellently reviewed; but still underperforming.

The slump seems to be slowing, with “Spider-Man: Far from Home already starting to punch some big numbers, but what was it with the terrible Summer start. Generally, it seemed like the critics. “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” scored 55/100 with us, 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 48/100 on Metacritic. “The Secret Life of Pets 2” also scored mixed reception, with 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 54/100 on Metacritic. Another contender that weekend, “Dark Phoenix” was also received negatively, handed just 23% on RT, and 43/100 on Metacritic. Even “International”, and “Shaft” received 23%, and 31% respectively.

That seems to be the main problem, but then again, “Toy Story 4” got raves, and scored 80/100 with us, yet still failed to reach expectations. However, that was still a solid victory.

What this means for sequels and reboots such as “The Lion King”, “Hobbs and Shaw”, “Dora and the Last City it Gold” etc. is still unknown, but keep checking for weekend updates on Box Office Face Offs.