Box Office Decline: Can Studios, Theaters Win Audiences Back? From “Jaws” to “Jurassic Park,” few directors can rival Steven Spielberg in the blockbuster arena. But even Spielberg’s magic touch couldn’t save “The BFG” at the box office.

This story first appeared in the July 2. Variety. Subscribe today. See more. On paper, the film, a $1.

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ET” writer Melissa Mathison, had all the makings of a hit. Instead, the movie collapsed at the multiplexes, eking out less than $2. It’s a stunning fall for one of cinema’s highest- flying talents — a director whose finger was affixed to the pulse of mainstream tastes for decades. Yet “The BFG” is only the latest high- profile casualty in a summer that’s seen a slew of big- budget domestic bombs. Indeed, red ink has spilled out from such misses as “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “Warcraft,” “The Legend of Tarzan,” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” each of which had production budgets north of $1. The failures could cost their studios tens of millions of dollars. More troubling is what the downturn may portend for the future of the film business and moviegoing overall.“The theater business has weaker prospects going forward than at any time in the last 3.

Hal Vogel. It’s a superhero, mega- blockbuster, tentpole strategy run amuck. There’s too much of it, and it’s not working.”Those weak prospects will likely affect financing. Chris Spicer, Akin Gump entertainment and media partner, says investors may move away from film into other media, such as gaming or virtual reality. Ticket sales are down roughly 1.

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Rising ticket prices, fueled by 3. D, Imax, and other premium formats, have enabled the industry to paper over a huge gulf in attendance. On a per- capita basis, the moviegoing audience is at its lowest levels in nearly a century. Most disturbing, millennials are avoiding theaters.

The audience of 1. Motion Picture Association of America.“There are pockets of age groups and demographics that have not been inspired by what they’re seeing in movie theaters,” says Bud Mayo, president of Carmike Cinemas’ alternative programming and distribution division. If kids don’t like it, word spreads.”“Repeating the same kind of content over and over doesn’t really make sense. If you don’t give people something that’s fresh and new, they’re not going to show up.”Mike Medavoy, producer.

As studios cater to fanboys, flooding theaters with superhero films and diving deeper into the comic- book canon, the business becomes more niche. Frequent moviegoers, defined as those who go to theaters at least once a month, are responsible for nearly half of domestic revenue. In 2. 01. 5, total tickets purchased by this group increased by 2. At the same time, TV and online content continues to be compelling, with production values that rival those on the big screen. For a new generation of cinephiles, Ned Stark being separated from his head on “Game of Thrones,” or Walter White cooking meth in his underwear in “Breaking Bad,” are pop- culture totems.

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Little of what’s in the cineplex has that kind of impact.“There has been a shift in the way that people are consuming content, and it’s moving away from the big screen,” says Bruce Nash, founder of the box- office tracking site The Numbers. Producer Mike Medavoy says the box- office malaise is symptomatic of the larger problem of engaging moviegoers who have a wide variety of alternatives, from Netflix to Pok. If you don’t give people something that’s fresh and new, they’re not going to show up.”It’s a looming disaster that’s been more than a decade in the making. Some of it is self- inflicted, brought about by a mixture of greed and fear, aided by a profound and troubling lack of imagination. The consequences add up to a business that feels increasingly irrelevant.

What’s lacking is originality. So far, only one new blockbuster franchise has emerged out of the summer — Illumination’s “The Secret Life of Pets.” Warner Bros.’ big- budget bet, “Suicide Squad,” a hotly anticipated superhero movie, is tracking well, but it’s not entirely new, springing from the DC Comics cinematic universe. FEWER SALES PER PERSONAs ticket prices have soared, per- capita annual purchases in the domestic theatrical market have plummetedhttps: //www. FADING FRANCHISESToday, it’s hard to predict which movies will resonate with audiences and which will be spurned. Mystery Thriller Movies Stung (2015).

To safeguard against the vagaries of popular taste, studios have banked increasingly on sequels and spinoffs, with diminishing returns. That hasn’t meant just cooking up new chapters in popular franchises; it means raiding the pop- culture waste bin to revive moldy, dimly remembered pieces of intellectual property. Fox resurrected “Independence Day,” only to find that audiences had little interest in revisiting the alien- invasion yarn 2. Likewise, Sony is trying to reinvigorate “Ghostbusters” three decades after the paranormal investigators hung up their proton packs.

But, as Variety critic Peter Debruge noted in his review of the new film, which debuted to middling receipts, Sony’s female- driven relaunch “suffers from a disappointingly strong case of d. Depending on your perspective, having Indy crack his bullwhip once more is either cinematic validation that seniors today lead longer, more active lives, or an indication of Spielberg and Ford’s refusal to leave the stage gracefully.“X- Men: Apocalypse,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” and “London Has Fallen” are just a few of the high- profile sequels that performed worse than previous installments in their franchises. In 2. 01. 0, Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” topped $1 billion globally, but six years later, the follow- up “Alice Through the Looking Glass” has made barely a quarter of that, and could result in a $1.

Other flops, such as “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” “Ride Along 2,” and “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” raise questions about the knee- jerk impulse to sequelize: Were these characters so beloved, and were their stories so rich, that audiences demanded part two?“It may be a fantasy of mine as a creative producer, but I hope this will remind the studios that you could make five really good movies for the cost of one sequel to a movie that didn’t merit a sequel,” says Matt Baer, producer of “Unbroken.”https: //www. The sequels that have the most trouble are those that try to hew too closely to the style and format of the originals, says one Hollywood producer. The second“Independence Day,” which merely upped the size of the alien invasion, left audiences cold. But Marvel/Disney’s “Captain America” franchise — which morphed over three episodes from war movie to paranoid conspiracy thriller to “Fast and Furious”- style buddy movie — kept viewers craving more.

The last “Star Wars” installment signaled to audiences months in advance that it would not just roll out Han Solo and Princess Leia again and hope for the best. This fresh take was announced in the trailer when a Storm Trooper not only pulled off his mask (itself a novelty), but also revealed a new character, played by John Boyega, showing the franchise’s commitment to more diversity in casting. Yet such new thinking has been the exception. Instead of pulling back with their sequels, studios are plowing ahead, announcing follow- ups even before a first film hits theaters.

Lionsgate, for instance, plans to make seven “Power Rangers” movies — never mind that audiences won’t get a peek at the rebooted version of the Mighty Morphin team until 2. After coming down with a case of Marvel envy, Warner Bros. But things got off to a rocky start after “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” bowed to withering reviews and tepid fan reception.

The studio has tapped Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to oversee the creation of intersecting monster movies featuring the likes of the Mummy and Dracula. Those films will begin rolling out next year. As Disney proved with Marvel, the rewards for getting it right can be limitless.