The summer of 2017 hasn’t been the best summer in box office history.
Hollywood tried to dangle way too many mediocre movies and unneeded sequels and reboots in front of our faces, but not all of us took the bait. However, there were a few that were amazing, and even some that came out on top because they lacked the unoriginality that so many movies these days possess.
Here are some of the most notable movies from the summer of 2017:
SPIDER-MAN:HOMECOMING
This is now the third reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, with Tom Holland taking on the role of Peter Parker. Some will even say that he is a better incarnation than his predecessors, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.
“Tom Holland is the perfect actor for this movie,” says Spider-Man fanatic and junior, Ashlyn Nance. “Tobey Maguire, while a great Peter Parker, wasn’t the best Spider-Man. He didn’t have the witty commentary while fighting that Spider-Man is known for. Andrew Garfield is a great Spider-Man, but it’s hard to see him as the nerd who gets picked on. Tom Holland has the nerdiness needed to pull off Peter Parker, and the smart quips to be Spider-Man.”
The film had an opening weekend gross of over $117 million, but Marvel Studios did suffer due to their 62.2% drop in revenue the following weekend. Compared to the income of previous Spider-Man movies, everyone thought it was going to be deemed “a flop,” and then came a secret weapon- China.
The movie was released in China on August 11th, and managed to rake in $70 million dollars alone on its opening weekend. Currently, Spider-Man:Homecoming is still sitting pretty at a worldwide gross of $823 million. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, more like your friendly neighborhood moneymaker! We will see more of Spider-Man in 2018, in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1.
DUNKIRK
Dunkirk is the new WWII film directed by Christopher Nolan. This movie takes place in 1940, and follows the story of the trapped Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk, whilst getting attacked by the German forces. Dunkirk gave the watcher a good story while simultaneously educating them on an important event in history that is often snubbed by students. The movie portrayed what most Veteran moviegoers called “surreal imagery,” saying that they never thought they would see those haunting images of war again.
So far Dunkirk has made over $180 million dollars domestically, with fairly good reviews across the board. As of now, there is no mention of a sequel, but Christopher Nolan is planning on directing the next James Bond movie, which has no set date yet.
WONDER WOMAN
Wonder Woman was arguably one of the best movies of the summer, due to it breaking multiple box office records and social standards. Is not only the first female superhero movie to be made in an established cinematic universe, but it is also the highest rated superhero origin movie according to rotten tomatoes (98%). It is the highest grossing film directed by a woman, and is arguably the most liked by critics and the general public out of all the previous DC Cinematic Universe films. It even did so well, that DC reshot most of Justice Leauge so that the story would include Diana more that it previously did.
Wonder Woman made an astounding $103 million on its opening weekend domestically, which doesn’t sound like much compared to the current competition- the Marvel franchise. However, this is a superhero origin movies that typically don’t make very much money due to the uncertainty whether or not the hero will be accepted by the public. For example, Iron Man only made $98 million on its opening weekend, and Guardians of the Galaxy made $94 million. We will see more of Wonder Woman in just a few months with the release of Justice League in November.
THE EMOJI MOVIE
If you have ever watched YouTube user-friendly video, you might have ran into something that are known as advertisements. You know, the little 30-second to a minute videos that the user is forced to watch right before the video starts? Well, now imagine that ad is 90 minutes long and you paid money to to see it. That is basically all the Emoji Movie is. Nothing but a long, painful, unoriginal advertisement. The movie did manage to snag some familiar voices for the animated film, such as TJ Miller, James Corden, and even Patrick Stewart. But even the All-Star cast couldn’t save this crime against cinematic history.
The movie had a “meh” opening weekend at $24 million, but still somehow was profitable in the long run. It barely even managed to surpass its depressing 0% on Rotten Tomatoes score when the film was initially released, now currently at a gruesome 10% rating, with no intention of improving. As of now, there is no talk of a sequel, and that might be for the best. The Star is the next film that is scheduled to be released in late 2017 by Sony Animation; perhaps it will have a more promising result.
CARS 3
Cars 3 continues the story of Lightning McQueen, who is now seen as a veteran in the racing world. The majority of the movie follows Lightning post-crash, trying to deal with the complications of physical recovery and status recovery as well. The movie had a great storyline, fantastic animation (Pixar never disappoints), and beautifully remastered voice tests from Paul Newman as Doc Hudson in the Cars universe.
“I think [Cars 3] did a good job of wrapping up the story”, said Kid-at-heart and senior, Cheyenne Hunt. “The ending where you see him retiring and mentoring Cruz, that was a really good way to bring it all to a close. It was a great homage to the original because of how Lightning and Doc end up switching roles.”
Cars 3 was released on June 16, and made $56 million on it’s opening weekend. Cars 3 stayed in theaters for 14 weeks, and made a total of $362 million worldwide. Coco is the next movie that will be released by Pixar Animation on November 22.
There were many instances where there was a big event during the week that turned the people away from the theaters. The weekend of August 26th was hit hard due to the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight. Even mother nature had a role in all of the poor ratings and box office income. The Hitman’s Bodyguard and Annabelle: Creation were greatly affected by the Eclipse, and if it wasn’t for hurricane Irma, IT probably would have replaced Deadpool’s spot as the highest grossing R rated film.
The summer of 2017 will go down in cinematic history for its astounding masterpieces, AND its soul crushing excuses for films. It all depends on what the audiences want to remember.