The Wrap is reporting that with a lack of blue-chip tentpoles, surefire sequels and fanboy fare, the 2010 summer box office is expected to suffer from “franchise famine.”
Currently, there are 10 sequels or reboots scheduled to hit screens this summer — roughly the same as previous years — but without four-quadrant blockbusters, a record-breaking summer doesn’t appear to be on the books.
The Wrap allows that while The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Sex and the City 2, Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3 may break big, each is heavily weighted toward women and children.
The key fanboy demographic will have to wait another year while studios gear up for comic-book stars such as Thor and Captain America. This summer’s exception is a big one, however, with the May 7 bow of Iron Man 2.
Studios and exhibitors are pinning their hopes on unknown quantities, such as Christopher Nolan‘s Inception and the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz action-comedy Knight and Day.
“Moviegoers always say that original content is one of their number-one top priorities, and they complain that there are too many sequels and franchises,” Vincent Bruzesse, president of the motion picture division for the research film OTX, told TW. “Of course, at the end of the day, eight or seven of the top 10 films are always sequels or franchises.”
