The summer of 2014 may be remembered as a tipping point, the moment Hollywood studios turned their backs for good on people who actually care about film. This summer, the studios bombarded us with a deadening barrage of movies made for a global audience of teenage boys and grown-ups who think like them. These movies don’t require English as a first language and, truth be told, don’t require language at all. As cynical as it sounds, the studios have almost without exception ceded telling stories about real people to television—hence TV’s second Golden Age—and, at least from May to September, concentrate exclusively on “tentpoles,” “franchises” and other annoying words that never should be used when describing a film.
Since the mid-1970s, the summer has, of course, been a time for studios to release big-budget event films (thank you Mssrs. Spielberg and Lucas), but 2014 may be remembered as the year the studios abdicated any pretense that their summer offerings were anything other than alternative to playing video games. If you are wondering why you didn’t actually see any Hollywood films this summer (unless you have kids or teenagers), this list of the Top 20 films from May 2-Sept. 1 will clear things up. The inmates have taken over the asylum, and the rest of us just wait for the studios to throw us a few bones after Labor Day. I vote with my dollars and am not embarrassed to say that I did not see one of these films. I sort of wanted to see Maleficent because it looked beautiful, but I didn’t get around to it.
Yes, TV is great, but maybe it’s time for a second Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking.
Source: Box Office Mojo: Domestic Gross in Millions
1. Guardians of the Galaxy $280.5
2. Transformers: Age of Extinction $244.4
3. Maleficent $238.7
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past $233.3
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes $205.5
6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $202.9
7. Godzilla $200.7
8. 22 Jump Street $190.3
9. How to Train Your Dragon 2 $173.5
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $166.4
11. Neighbors $150.1
12. The Fault in Our Stars $124.5
13. Lucy $118.6
14. Edge of Tomorrow $100.0
15. Tammy $83.4
16. The Purge: Anarchy $71.1
17. Hercules $71.1
18. Think Like a Man Too $65.2
19. Let’s Be Cops $59.7
20. Planes: Fire and Rescue $57.2
You may also enjoy:
Orson Welles’ 12 Best Movies of All Time (and Their Directors)
