[Dirtbag59]

Film Industry Has Worst Summer Since 1997

Or at least if they have, it isn't in a theater. Ticket sales to movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada are expected to sink to about $3.9 billion, a 15 percent decline when compared to summer of 2013, according to box office company Rentrak. In July, box office sales were down 30 percent, the New York Times reports.

For the first time in 13 years, no summer film netted $300 million in ticket sales domestically. Not even Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," the highly-anticipated superhero film that led this summer's box office sales, could save the summer. And as Vox notes, a dry summer is an especially hefty hit. Summer is when the film industry banks on people heading to theaters, typically producing the greatest months of ticket sales.