I look at that list of hits and misses and I don't see a single film I want to see. I'm tired of Batman. I'm tired of comic books. I'm tired of raunchy man-child comedies. I'm tired of sequels. Hand me a free DVD and I still won't watch them. If there are no new pleasures at the cinema, people will find them elsewhere. There are far more interesting things to see on the internet.

Smaller budgets (less risk), better, original stories, forget 3D. That's another way of saying what Bryan just did (re: internet). If it's going to cost me $75+ to take my family to a movie, I'm going to do it less often.

The main reason box office is down is because there is a plethora of media choices which consumers value more than the movie going experience. This does not mean that folks won't download films and watch them on their iPad or home entertainment systems -- but there theatre has become a hassle and time consuming to get there, park, etc. It;s just not as much fun as it used to be no matter how much you may praise the "communal movie watching experience" The second reason is that the product the business makes is either a remake or something so specific that it should have gone straight to video. When the face of Hollywood is nothing but high concept genre pieces I know few people who are compelled to run to the theatre for that. The third reason - pop culture is changing and the business is behind the curve instead of leading the way. This will change because it's the new reality and the business will need to adjust or die. Lastly - celebrity is not as powerful or interesting than in previous decades. Fame is no longer the result of good work and adoration of that work -- it's now infamy and that's a turn off.

I'm assuming this is world wide box office? Dark Knight and Avengers were sequels (well seque-esque) but they broke records in some fashion. I suppose Amazing Spiderman broke a Tuesday opening record but it was the worst money maker in the series. I think it was b/c there wasn't enough time between the reboot. I'm not too compelled to see it even though it probably got better reviews than the previous films. Yet... why am I so drawn to the Superman reboot just based on the teaser trailer. Is it b/c Superman is so iconic? Also was there anything blockbuster tentpole release labor day weekend? I don't believe so, is that the trend with studios? Anyway, choice A) could hold some water, the plugged-in generation might be going the way of the Axiom Ship in Wall-E and that trend may continue as we see them get older. I hope not. B)Yeah, probably biggest suspect. C) Maybe reboots that happen too soon but sequels not so much. Would like to see how Superman does. D)...

Great analysis, Michael. I'm spinning out a whole series this week at noon [Eastern] of recent articles about the movie biz, so please feel free to add your thoughts. Seems like we're in a bit of a change just now. As with many of the reasons listed in comments here, younger people may not be as 'committed' to going to a movie theater as old farts such as myself who grew up movie fans. Could this be a direction the major studios widen out in terms of their acquisition and production dollars?