Entertainment Reporter Drew Taylor From The Wrap Reviews This Summer's New Movies

Arroe Collins Like It's Live

The Summer Box Office Has to Be Graded on a Curve Yet Again With no MCU movie to start off the season, this year's strike-addled blockbuster lineup will likely fall short of 2023 Excluding the COVID impact on 2020 and 2021, this year marks the first time since 2006 that the summer moviegoing season won't begin with a Marvel release during the first weekend of May. The lack of a superheroic kickoff to blockbuster season is a glaring symptom of a larger reality: The disruption caused by the 2023 Hollywood strikes is going to limit how high the summer box office can climb. Alongside Disney, which was forced to vacate its favorite MCU release slot, the strikes also pushed films like "Mission: Impossible 8" to 2025, with not much to take their place. It will take several major surprises - like 2023's "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" - to match last year's $4 billion domestic total. Insiders at analytics firm Gower Street, while leaving open the potential for upside, project a box office total of $3.3 billion in North America this summer, putting it in the neighborhood of the $3.39 billion total recorded in 2022. From the get-go, because of the strikes any comparisons between this summer's box office and those of past years will immediately be marked with a huge asterisk."This summer is a one-off, and I think everyone in the industry knows that," Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock told The Wrap. "What I want to know is, how do these sequels play compared to last summer?"
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