Will This Be the Worst Labor Day Ever for Hollywood?
by EG
For the first time in 25 years, Hollywood will not release a major movie over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Consequently, the weekend is likely to set a new record for awful box-office receipts. A bleak weekend would cap off a dismal summer movie season in which studios and theaters suffered through a string of ho-hum weekends populated by movies that no one liked very much.
The Labor Day box office is going to be anything but a picnic, capping off a rough-and-tumble summer and an especially brutal August.
For the first time in a quarter of a century, there won't be one new major nationwide release on the holiday marquee. The last time that happened was in 1992 when the Matthew Broderick comedy Out on a Limb only debuted in 700 theaters, grossing $1.1 million. Total revenue for Labor Day weekend 1992 was a misreable $57 million, not accounting for inflation. No Labor Day frame has been as bad since then, although this year could mark a new low.
Earlier this month, The Weinstein Co. moved Tulip Fever, starring Alicia Vikander, to Labor Day, but the period drama is only getting a moderate release in some 600 locations. The movie was first set to open in summer 2016, but repeatedly got pushed back.
Sans much competition, holdover The Hitman's Bodyguard is almost assured of remaining atop the chart in its third weekend with $5 million-$7 million, followed by Annabelle: Creation.
Otherwise, a mishmash of re-releases and an advance viewing of the first two episodes of ABC and Marvel Televisions's The Inhumans in 380 Imax theaters will vie for attention. (Inhumans, which premieres in the U.S. next month, is also playing in hundreds of Imax theaters overseas.)
Sony is dusting off Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and re-releasing the classic film in about 900 theaters, timed to its 40th anniversary.
Among more recent titles, Disney and Pixar will re-release summer 2017 tentpole Cars 3 in 2,445 locations. Last Labor Day, they did the same thing with Finding Dory, which grossed $3 million over the four-day holiday.
Read the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
The good news is that there are some better movies on the horizon. What fall movies are you most looking forward to seeing? Tell us in the comment section below.