ENTERTAINMENT

Screen | Summer movies losing relevance

Todd Hill

Well, that’s over.

Just once, I would like to be able to exude more enthusiasm about the summer movie season, to gush over that one movie (or two, or three) that had everybody talking for weeks and going to the theater in droves.

APCharlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road." This photo provided by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in Warner Bros. PicturesÂ? and Village Roadshow PicturesÂ? action adventure film, Â?Mad Max: Fury Road," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Maybe next year, but I’m not holding my breath.

Now that the season just past — which began way back on May 1 with, you guessed it, a superhero title (“The Avengers: Age of Ultron”) — has crawled to its traditional underwhelming conclusion in the days before Labor Day, the box-office numbers are in and they do appear impressive. The summer of 2015 should be the second or third best at the movies on record.

Of course, once you adjust those numbers for inflation and compare them to past summers, they don’t appear quite as special. Theater attendance remains flat. And the Hollywood studios continue to pad their receipts with 3D and IMAX screenings, which are pricier.

I saw a movie in 3D over the summer, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which only served to reaffirm my belief that 3D is almost always completely unnecessary from a moviegoer’s perspective.

That particular film, however, was terrific, so much so that it deserves, I think, an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Granted, it should’ve been called “Mad Maxine,” but it’s not Charlize Theron’s fault that she kicked so much butt in her second-fiddle role that she was for all intents and purposes the movie’s star.

For the record, the summer’s box-office champ was “Jurassic World,” a “Jurassic Park” retread that at last count had brought in a phenomenal $639 million just domestically. The movie may not have been anything special, but anyone with any interest in the picture knew instantly what it was, and it was clearly something a lot of people wanted to see. Expect more dinosaurs in the future.

APNick Robinson, left, as Zach, and Ty Simpkins as Gray, take a ride through “Jurassic World,” the $1 billion latest installment in the “Jurassic Park” series. This photo provided by Universal Pictures shows, Nick Robinson, left, as Zach, and Ty Simpkins as Gray, in a scene from the film, "Jurassic World," directed by Colin Trevorrow, in the next installment of Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking "Jurassic Park" series. (ILM/Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment via AP)

Returning once too often to past performers, however, is one of Hollywood’s most tiresome habits, and it got burned on that front multiple times this summer.

The season’s closest thing to a bomb was yet another attempt to reboot the “Fantastic Four” franchise. The latest failure is not a sign that the superhero genre is fading. It’s not, not by the longest shot, and oh, how I wish it were. But the genre’s fans are exceptionally discerning, and they’re exhibiting a willingness to pick and choose.

Perhaps they deserve more credit than I’ve been willing to give them in the past. My contempt for studios that throw one lazy motion picture project after another at audiences, however, is undiminished.

Twentieth Century Fox The Thing, from left, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Miles Teller as Dr. Reed Richards, and Kate Mara as Sue Storm appear in "Fantastic Four." This photo provided by courtesy Twentieth Century Fox shows, The Thing, from left, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Miles Teller as Dr. Reed Richards, and Kate Mara as Sue Storm, in a scene from the film, "Fantastic Four," releasing in U.S. theaters on Aug. 7, 2015. (Twentieth Century Fox via AP)

Movies that looked awful several months in advance, and turned out to be precisely that awful, were once again a major theme in this summer’s movie lineup. A new “Poltergeist” film? Nope. Another “Vacation?” Folks stayed away from that one, too. How about “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?” How about we just forget it?

Quite a few sequels were a bust as well. Nobody, it turned out, wanted to see yet another “Terminator” movie. Surprisingly, given the recent success of “Magic Mike,” a new title centered on the world of male strippers tanked, as did “Ted 2.”

In addition to this weekly column, I write one on home video releases, where I will soon have the opportunity to trumpet quality films that deserved better this summer. Kristin Wiig was, as usual, a hoot in “Welcome to Me.” The Brian Wilson biopic “Love & Mercy” is a must-see for anyone with an interest in popular music. And although not a single indie caught fire over the season, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” certainly should have.

In case you’re not keeping score, I’ve praised just four of the films released in theaters over the past four months. That’s not a lot, and that’s what has me worried. Astute moviegoers expect exceptional cinema over the four months still to come, and maybe they’ll get it. Studios expect big bucks from their summer titles, and they raked it in.

But there were far too many fallow weeks at the cineplex this past summer. Not once did somebody ask me, “Hey, did you see …?” If they had, perhaps I could’ve saved them the trouble of seeing it themselves.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ