‘Lone Ranger’ is just one of summer’s busts

Kai Ryssdal Jul 23, 2013
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‘Lone Ranger’ is just one of summer’s busts

Kai Ryssdal Jul 23, 2013
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Studios were mostly disappointed with their box office draw this past weekend.

But could all this low turnout be blamed on audience fatigue?

“We are finally maybe getting fat on these high-calorie, high-cholesterol summer movies and we sort of are reaching for the less fattening version of a summer movie,” says Wesley Morris, film critic at Grantland. “That’s how ‘The Conjuring’ winds up being your number one box office hit this weekend.”

“The Conjuring” is a horror film that grossed over $47 million on its opening weekend. Morris says horror films have always been popular “but it’s rare that a horror movie opens in the middle of summer and it’s rare that it make more money” than movies with bigger budgets and a bigger marketing push.

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