Summer Blockbuster Movie Bust: On the Falling Box Office

Summer Blockbuster Movie Bust: On the Falling Box Office: "In May, the first month of blockbuster summer movies, Hollywood brought out its big guns — sequels to Iron Man, Shrek and Sex and the City, plus the pricey action-adventures Robin Hood and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time — and most of them turned out to be popguns. The month's total take was 11% below May 2009's in revenue and 19% down in attendance. Then last weekend, four more films opened: Get Him to the Greek, Killers, Marmaduke and Splice. They all 'underperformed,' in industry parlance, marking the first June weekend in five years that no new movie earned $20 million at the box office. The weekend gross dropped a parlous 28% from the same frame last year, despite a hefty rise in ticket prices."