Movie Theaters Have Best Summer Growth in 20 Years

Although streaming apps and startups like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are at the forefront on home entertainment, it appears the stream services aren't disrupting the cash flow at the box office this summer.

According to Bloomberg, the industry is on pace to finish the summer season with a 14% increase in box office ticket sales, the largest growth since 1998. Thanks to Disney's movies like Avengers: Infinity War or The Incredibles 2 and Universal's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the summer box office will finish around a projected $4.39 billion at the end of Labor Day weekend.

"The notion that streaming has led to a decline in cinema attendance is really over-exaggerated," Phil Contrino, a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Bloomberg.

Nearly through three quarters, Disney has virtually doubled their money at the box office this year. Finishing last year with nearly $1.4 billion, Disney has already logged $2.8 billion domestically and still has three movies — Wreck-It Ralph 2, The Nutcracker and The Four Realms, and Mary Poppins Returns — left to premiere this year.

Other production studios have had similarly successful years, Paramount has a solid 38% growth while Sony is edging out a 2% increase in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo.

On the other hand, studios like Universal, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox aren't having the greatest of years. All three studios have at least an 18% decrease in box office receipts while Fox is the largest loser this year at 24%.

Lionsgate is the largest loser of the year, however, hauling in just under $267 million compared to last years $568 million, a 53% loss.

The summer of 2018 has also been kind to movies whose initial tracking was on the lower end. In fact, Warner Brothers has had two breakout hits in August alone — Crazy Rich Asians and The Meg — that has raked in a quarter of a billion for the studio in just a few weeks.

With four months left in the year, there are still quite a few major releases left on the dockett. September will see the release of horror/action thrillers like The Nun and Shane Black's The Predator while October is bringing us Sony's Venom, the first movie apart of a new shared universe. November might be the biggest month yet to come with movies like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Creed 2, Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, and Wreck-It Ralph 2 each having a release date as the holiday season nears.

In the addition to the aforementioned Mary Poppins Returns, December will also see the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (December 14) while Bumblebee and Aquaman will both be released on December 21.

Have you been going to the cinema more this summer? Any big movies you're still waiting for? Let us know in the comments below!