Summer moviegoing is usually about the stars, the spectacle and the sizzle. But in a trend that\u2019s mystifying Hollywood, this summer\u2019s box office is being driven by films with modest ambitions, including relatively inexpensive comedies, lower budget animation and horror pictures.<\/p>\n
Call it the summer of the B-movie. Like the quickie flicks the studios used to crank out for the back end of double features, these new hits \u2014 \u201cThe Heat,\u201d \u201cGrown Ups 2,\u201d \u201cDespicable Me 2\u201d and, as of this weekend, \u201cThe Conjuring\u201d among them \u2014 are drumming up business while bigger-budgeted offerings such as \u201cThe Lone Ranger\u201d and \u201cPacific Rim\u201d struggle to sell tickets.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s these smaller films that have helped summer box-office receipts climb by 14 percent over last year, defying the conventional wisdom that summer is the time when audiences mainly want to see movies that are big, loud and laden with costly special effects.<\/p>\n
Several factors may be behind the turnabout, according to Hollywood analysts, including studios doing a better job of serving niche audiences and consumers experiencing blockbuster fatigue.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything looked watered down and the studios were left trying to distinguish their movies,\u201d said Ted Mundorff, chief executive of Landmark Theatres.<\/p>\n
This weekend the trend seems to be hitting its apex. \u201cR.I.P.D.,\u201d a supernatural science fiction comedy starring household names Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges that cost at least $130 million to make, is projected to take in less than $15 million at the box office. Meanwhile, \u201cThe Conjuring,\u201d a paranormal-themed film made for the horror faithful at one-seventh the budget, is expected to collect as much as $35 million.<\/p>\n
Last weekend \u201cPacific Rim\u201d \u2014 a movie that received generally positive reviews but reminded some people of the \u201cTransformers\u201d franchise \u2014 struggled. It cost nearly $200 million but has taken in just $49 million so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrown Ups 2,\u201d by comparison, cost a relatively modest $80 million and in less than a week has taken in $66 million, virtually assuring a tidy profit. The film didn\u2019t try to build a new mythology or dazzle with effects; instead it was a lighthearted confection with recognizable jokes about bodily functions and child rearing meant to comfort more than shock \u2014 a kind of B-movie comedy for the modern age.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way it\u2019s a little bit of a memory piece,\u201d director Dennis Dugan said. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s an alternative to all the big guys blowing stuff up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the summer moviegoing season began in early May, the biggest-budgeted new movie has now failed to win the weekend box office on eight occasions. In the comparable period in 2012, this happened only three times. Ditto for 2011.<\/p>\n
Of course, moviegoers have yet to tire of superheroes \u2014 \u201cIron Man 3\u201d and \u201cMan of Steel\u201d are the summer\u2019s top-grossing movies so far. And occasionally an expensive star-driven movie, such as Brad Pitt zombie flick \u201cWorld War Z,\u201d has found an audience. But the summer has had a plethora of high-profile flops. All-audience extravaganzas such as Will Smith\u2019s science-fiction film \u201cAfter Earth,\u201d Johnny Depp\u2019s Western comedy \u201cThe Lone Ranger\u201d and Channing Tatum\u2019s D.C. action picture \u201cWhite House Down\u201d \u2014 which cost as much as $225 million and are the closest thing Hollywood has historically had to sure bets \u2014 all fizzled in the last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of blood in the water,\u201d said Fox distribution president Chris Aronson. \u201cThere have been more high-profile failures than normal. But it\u2019s hard to castigate the business when business is up.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the breakout hits is the animated sequel \u201cDespicable Me 2,\u201d which has taken in nearly $250 million, with a budget about half that of Pixar and DreamWorks animated features. Another is \u201cThe Heat,\u201d a cop comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy that was aimed at a target audience; two-thirds of opening-weekend fans were women.<\/p>\n
By shrewdly targeting a demographic in the manner of many a vintage B-picture, it has proved far more popular. \u201cThe Heat\u201d has taken in $40 million more than \u201cLone Ranger,\u201d with little hope of the western catching up. (As it did in the heyday of the B-picture, the rise of the smaller movie doesn\u2019t necessarily mean an increase in quality. For example, Adam Sandler\u2019s \u201cGrown Ups 2\u201d garnered a Rotten Tomatoes score barely above 0 percent).<\/p>\n
Producer Jason Blum, who saw his $3.5 million-budgeted \u201cThe Purge\u201d gross nearly 20 times that, said that he could afford to take more chances with his movie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone at a studio wants to do something unusual like put billboards over L.A. saying \u2018Emergency Services Suspended,\u2019\u201d Blum said, alluding to \u201cThe Purge\u2019s\u201d canny outdoor-marketing campaign, \u201cthey might, but they\u2019d have to jump through a lot of hoops. With a $3-million movie you can much more easily take a risk.\u201d (Though financed and distributed by Universal, Blum\u2019s movie was made largely free of studio intervention.)<\/p>\n
Blum noted that similar sense of financial freedom helped him make satisfying choices within the movie. \u201cI can kill my lead halfway through if the story calls for it. You could never do that with a $100- or $200-million movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though traditionally B-movies had more self-conscious camp than these new films \u2014 think \u201cPlan 9 From Outer Space\u201d \u2014 this crop have many of the same hallmarks: familiar plots, escapist intentions, low budgets and high concepts. \u201cThe Purge\u201d tells of a world in which all crime is legal for one day \u2014 and benefited from a social-media campaign that had users tweeting outrageous things they would do if a purge was real.<\/p>\n
Hollywood responds slowly to change. But studios are beginning to react, with studio executives saying they\u2019re thinking about reducing the number of summer films. The sense is that audiences still want to see spectacle this time of year \u2014 they just don\u2019t want to see so much of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like it went a notch too far with the number of movies out there over $100 million,\u201d said Rob Moore, vice-chairman of Paramount, who had one of the rare big-budget hits in \u201cWorld War Z.\u201d \u201cIt felt like there was an unlimited capacity for these movies, but this summer challenged that thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
But new models aren\u2019t easy. With their gargantuan conglomerate-owned operations, studios, for instance, won\u2019t be able to increase the number of inexpensive genre films to create a modern day version of the B-movie factory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see the studios suddenly getting into the microbudget game in a comprehensive way,\u201d Blum said. \u201cThey\u2019re just not built for that.\u201d