After Dismal Summer, Hollywood Pins Hopes on Fall Ticket Sales
LOS ANGELES — Jeff Bock, a senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations, an entertainment research firm, summed up Hollywood’s dismal summer at the domestic
box office — estimated ticket sales fell to a 22-year low — by going on an “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore” rant.
From the first Friday in May to Labor Day, a period
that typically accounts for 40 percent of annual ticket sales, box office revenue in the United States and Canada is expected to total roughly $3.78 billion, a 16 percent decline from the same period last year, according to comScore, which compiles ticketing statistics.
“Dunkirk,” with $178.8 million in domestic ticket sales, became the most successful summertime drama
since “Pearl Harbor,” which collected about $277.5 million in 2001, after adjusting for inflation.
On Friday, for instance, New Line Cinema, a Warner Bros. division
that has been a resurgent force in the horror genre, is expected to blow the cobwebs off theater seats with “It.” An adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel about Pennywise the demonic clown, “It” may arrive to $70 million or more in domestic ticket sales, breaking September box office records, analysts say.
