2017 summer movies experiences lowest number in ten years

Movies inspire. Sitting down in a theater with some of your closest friends is one of my favorite experiences. Whether it’s watching the newly released movie, “IT,” or watching an old Disney classic, there is something special about watching a movie with people.

This summer saw the worst box office results of any summer in the past ten years, according to Box Office Mojo. Even more, the Labor Day weekend box office held the lowest numbers in that time dropping 16 percent lower than last year’s box office.

Summer is a great time to watch movies. Some students don’t have to worry about school, some have more freetime, and Netflix is a popular movie source for students. 

“I saw a few movies this summer, but not at the theater. I mostly watched Netflix,” Ryan Butcher Weltman, second-year, said, With these ideas kept in mind, it makes sense that movie ticket sales are declining.

First off, movie ticket prices are expensive. To buy a ticket for the hit movie “IT” at the Corvallis Regal Theater on 9th Street, you’ll be shoveling out at least $11.25 and that’s not including food. There are easy ways to get around this too – wait for the movie to be available to rent, not see the movie or use a service like MoviePass, where you pay a monthly fee to see as many movies as you want in select theaters. It makes things much cheaper.

In my opinion, the reason the box office flopped so hard this summer is because very few blockbuster movies were released. The top three movies of the summer were “Wonder Woman,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Spider-Man Homecoming,” respectively.

Here’s the kicker. “Wonder Woman” opened June 2, “Guardians” opened May 5 and “Spider-Man” opened July 7. The summer season of movies starts the first Friday of May, which means that two of the top three movies of the summer were released at the beginning of the season.

After these releases, other movies tried to succeed and failed. Pixar’s “Cars 3” did well, but “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” flopped. “The Mummy,” “Baywatch” and “The Emoji Movie” were all flops. At the end of the day, there just weren’t any interesting movies to go see.

I talked to a manager over at Carmike Theater, who is unnamed to due to AMC rules, and asked about the big blockbuster movies that she could think of that came out this summer. 

“As far as big movies, we had ‘Wonder Woman’ in June. Dunkirk was big for history fans and that ‘Spider-Man’ movie came out too,” she said. She added that attendance at the theater had been low for all movies but those three, attributing it to the lack of students in Corvallis during the summer.

However, just because this summer box office flopped, I don’t think that theaters are dying. In fact, “IT” recently broke the records of largest Sept. opening weekend and biggest opening weekend for a horror or supernatural movie.  

There are plenty more big name movies that students are excited about are coming out soon. 

“Kingsman is out now and I want to see it. I’m also looking forward to the next Marvel movie,” Kyle James, second year, said. 

This summer may have flopped, but fall and winter will be great times to be a fan of the theater. But that’s not all the big movies that are coming out this year. “Justice League,” “Coco” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” to name a few. 

What did you think of this summer’s movies? Did you see anything great? Let me know and shoot me an email at [email protected]. Remember to send me anything you want to see covered as well. Until next time, excelsior.