Summer films best represented by the ‘meh’ emoji

While school-aged children in the area are scrambling to get a summer's worth of assigned projects completed in the precious waning days before school resumes, I thought it only fitting to do a little review on the theatrical summer of 2017 and provide my own summary of the summer that was.

Overall, the box office slipped 13.4 percent, according to data from Box Office Mojo, making this the worst summer season since 2006 (ironically, a year that saw a few of the same franchises, such as "Pirates of the Caribbean," "X-Men," "Superman" and "Cars"). And while there were some breakout surprises, there were also many dependable names and franchises that could cost studios tens of millions of dollars. This last weekend alone was cited as the worst weekend in more than 15 years by the tracking site.

So, as your teacher would say at the end of a lecture, "What have we learned?"

First, we should step back and realize that this is only the summer, and some of the most anticipated films of the year have yet to be released. "Thor: Ragnarok," "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," and "Blade Runner 2046" are on the calendar in the coming months. And even if Disney's remaining releases all bomb, the studio has had one hell of a year (again). "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" took in about $100 million more than the first, "Beauty and Beast" is far and away the year's box office champ, and "Spider-Man Homecoming" raked it in, despite the sheer number of Spider-Man reboots and sequels we've seen in this last decade alone.

Another highlight was director Patty Jenkins, who perhaps single-handedly saved the DC cinematic universe with her record-breaking "Wonder Woman," which will make her the highest-paid female director when she returns to the direct the film's sequel.

So with all the colorful characters that graced the screen in 2017, why is the summer best represented by the "meh" emoji?

The first lesson perhaps is that not every big release should necessarily start a film "universe" like Marvel. Hopes were hung on "King Arthur," "The Mummy" and "The Dark Tower" to kick off a number of franchises, but each one failed to reach its budget domestically ("King": $175 million budget/$39 million profit; "Mummy": $125 million budget/$80 million profit; "Tower": $66 million budget/$44 million profit estimated). There were countless stories that circulated and finger-pointing about each after release, but regardless of blame, they will all have to work extra hard to gain momentum (and enthusiasm) for another installment. Another reality was that films cannot coast on big names alone. Depp, Cruise and The Rock all headlined flops this summer, while names like Gal Gadot and Tom Holland led the race. Depp has demonstrated time and again that his name above the title will not ensure a crowd ("Lone Ranger," "Transcendence," "Mordecai" ), but "Pirates" was his go-to crowd pleaser.

It also seemed that U.S. audiences were not in a laughing mood, with straight-up comedies failing to connect. Sure-fire summer fare such as "Baywatch," "Snatched," and "The House" cleared out of theaters like beachgoers in a thunderstorm.

The same can be surmised with animated films. "Cars 3," "Despicable Me 3," "The Smurfs: Lost Village" and "Captain Underpants" all fell far below estimates. Only "Boss Baby" and ... sigh ... "The Emoji Movie" seemed to buck the trend.

This summer also taught us that we are far from over our superhero fascination, but our love affair with franchise sequels may be coming to a close. While the aforementioned "Pirates" sequel performed well overseas, its domestic take was the second-lowest of the five films in the series. Despite the return of the original's director, "Alien: Covenant," if adjusted for ticket inflation, fell behind two of the three dreadful "Alien vs. Predator" offshoot films.

Things were even more bleak for "Transformers," with its fifth film not even coming within $100 million of the lowest-grossing film of the franchise. Even the critically lauded "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" could not reach the heights of the much-maligned 2001 Tim Burton remake.

But flowers did emerge from the manure, and while it seems we still aren't tired of superhero films, there were quite a number of smaller films that managed to make big waves this summer. Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" cleared the $100 million finish line before its final theatrical lap, and "Girls Trip" partied across the coveted mark as well. And while $39 million might not seem like a large amount by summer box office standards, it's almost six times the budget for the sleeper hit "The Big Sick." The same can be said for the thriller "47 Meters Down," which was rescued from a direct-to-streaming release in the U.S. and made back its $5 million budget nine times over in theaters.

There is still a jam-packed three months left, filled with wars in the stars, superheroics, saw-wielding serial killers, Blade Runners, and animated offerings which may inject a box office botox into the sagging season. But the studios should at least share some of their answers with one another and cram before finals in December.