Is 2016 The Worst Summer Blockbuster Season In Years?

In an industry with more than a whiff of desperation surrounding it - the sequels, the re-boots, the re-imaginings - could it be that movie-goers are entering into the worst crop of summer blockbusters movies in years?

‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ is the latest movie to have arrived amid a general shrug of the shoulders (and that’s at best… at worst, many critics have taken it to pieces).

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While there are a few begrudgingly positive reviews going on – nearly all in the general, faint praise realm that it’s 'daft fun’ – the sequel that took 20 years to appear will feature on precisely no one’s 'best of the year’ lists.

And it can join the queue.

A raft of 2016’s summer offerings have failed to impress movie-goers, critics or the studio accountants.

Prior to this is was 'X-Men: Apocalypse’, generally considered to be a low point in the 'X-Men’ series, with poor reviews and a pretty serious lack of interest at the box office.

It made $509 million, off the back of a $178 million budget. There’s not an analyst in Hollywood who could call that a successful box office salvo, particularly when you consider its predecessor, 'X-Men: Day of Future past’, pulled in nearly $250 million more.

As Spring arrived, a portent of creative doom came in the bloated, humourless form of Zack Snyder’s roundly disliked 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’, a film as bitterly disappointing as it was hotly-anticipated.

A film like that, with its budget bigger than 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, needed to bust that $1 billion mark, but it fell short at $872 million.

And don’t get us started on the reviews…

'Gods of Egypt’ too, despite its ambition and a starry cast (GOT’s Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush) was mercilessly panned, and has barely made back its not insubstantial $140 million budget.

'Warcraft’ too, which has taken years to come to the screen, arrived to blisteringly bad reviews, and appalling box office turnouts. A bonanza in the Chinese market has dampened the blow, but it’s still been a disaster.

As has ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows’, the sequel no one really asked for.

Bad reviews and a box office haul of less than $150 million - with an opening 46% below the first new reboot in 2014 - it surely throws a third installment into doubt.

So far, the only real glimmer of light has been 'Captain America: Civil War’ – brash, bold and, crucially, fun, it delighted fans and critics alike, making over $1 billion worldwide for Disney.

And also, in another case of financial alchemy for the House of Mouse, it also won big on Jon Favreau’s live-action version of 'The Jungle Book’, which earned rave reviews and banked nearly $1 billion.

But these appear to be the exceptions that prove the rule.

Still to come are Paul Feig’s controversially re-booted 'Ghostbusters’, which has every chance of being a disappointment both artistically and financially, and hands up who’s excited about the new Tarzan??! Anyone?? Bueller?

'Jason Bourne’, 'Finding Dory’ and 'Suicide Squad’ have got it all to do…

Image credits: Fox/Warner Bros/Disney