Box Office Analysis: What May Movies Tells Us About The Rest Of The Summer

Well, May 2014 sure was huge. With 4 movies hitting $60+ million openings, it was the 5th biggest May on record and a rollicking start to the summer movie going season. Going forward, it must be said that there are certainly more larger tentpoles in the back half of the summer than last year, with Transformers: Age of Extinction, Dawn of The Planet Of The Apes and Guardians of The Galaxy still likely to rake in big bucks for studios.

Still, the large amount of those gives me pause, simply because many of the May movies didn't seem to have a lot of stamina, despite good word of mouth and reviews. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that a new summer blockbuster emerged each and every week; who has time to see Godzilla when X-Men just popped up?? It's a real shame, as it's rendered a film like Godzilla (my favorite movie of the summer so far) into the Ang Lee's Hulk of the summer through its disastrous plummets from week to week (the mixed reception it's received from the fanboy community also adds to this perception).

June is a bit more level, but there's really only one guaranteed conventional blockbuster that month; Transformers: Age of Extinction. Then, two weeks later, a constant barrage of summer blockbusters arrive. For six weeks straight, one big movie after another opens up. This is gonna make it difficult for non-sequels like Jupiter Ascending who have to contend with proven franchises like the Ninja Turtles and Planet of The Apes. Even then, those sequels will have to make as much money as possible in their first week before new releases come and steal some of the spotlight (the good news for these six major releases is that they'll have summer weekdays where they can make some extra cash)

Frankly, the situation isn't terrible, especially since we've always had to contend with a jam packed schedule in the summertime. But with all these giant tentpoles fighting for space, I just wish studios could be more flexible with their scheduling, which would allow greater opportunities for all. Consider this; The Lego Movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Gravity all opened outside of summer (February, April and October respectively) and are going to make more money than any movie released in May.