The crash to come

Summer's here, and it's brought with it its usual parade of mega-budget, mega-action, mega everything movies. Over the past couple of decades, it seems like each year the "summer blockbusters" keep getting bigger and bigger, and coming out with ever increasing frequency. And why not? Those types of movies have the potential to rake in upwards of a half-billion dollars domestically, and over a billion dollars when their international earnings are tallied into the mix. But over the last few years things have started to change.

It's not unusual for a studio to invest a literal Olympic sized swimming pool full of cash into a big, explosion filled movie only to have it flop harder than Louie Anderson performing a belly-flop from the high-dive, but this summer, in particular, has seen a slew of devastating bombs. So far this year, we've seen the Lone Ranger, After Earth, White House Down, and most recently, Pacific Rim not just mildly under-perform, but fail to even make back their own production cost; and that's not including the upwards of 20 million dollars spent in just promotion.

Many of you may have heard the recent prediction by industry veteran Spielberg that the film industry is getting ready for a full scale "implosion". And the signs certainly seem to be pointing in that direction.

As technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, budges for big blockbuster movies seem to be rising exponentially. And more and more, these films are relying on gimmicks like 3D and the upcoming D-box seats, to attempt to draw crowds and justify higher and higher ticket prices. And moviegoers aren't falling for it.

So what are we to make of all this? After 7 decades of celluloid, is Americas favorite pastime drawing to a close? Of course not, and we're already starting to see the first light of whats to come: Despicable me 2 made it rain benjamans over at Illumination entertainment. The third installment of Iron man 3 kicked box-office ass, and while the latest Wolverine movie opened a bit soft stateside, it's been having a much better showing in overseas markets. And upcoming blockbusters, such as the Avengers 2 are likely to see even greater returns.

So fear not, movie goers. While the next wave of cinema may not look exactly as it does now, grab a bag of popcorn, and settle in your seats; I think the lights are dimming, and I don't want to miss the previews.