Hollywood lays a summer egg

This summer’s movie season started with a bang, but ended with a whimper, running out of hit movies well before its traditional Labor Day conclusion.

Hollywood movies earned $3.43 billion at theaters in North America this summer, defined as the period between the first Friday in May and Labor Day Monday, according to box-office tracker Comscore.

That haul was 21% lower than the summer season in 2019, the last year untainted by the coronavirus pandemic and 19% lower than the average summer gross between 2005 and 2019. It was the lowest haul since 2001, when summer movies earned $3.34 billion at domestic theaters. The summer season typically accounts for about 40% of annual box-office receipts, Comscore says.

The reason, Comscore said, is there simply weren’t enough movies.