It is a firmly held belief that Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was the beginning of the summer movie blockbuster trend. Before 1975, movies were not considered a big draw during the summer months. That all changed on June 20^th of that year when Jaws was released. Over the years, the benchmark to reach for big ticket sales was over the 4^th of July weekend. For a while, it even appeared that in order to have a successful blockbuster opening on the 4th, you would need Will Smith to have a starring role. He has appeared in five of the biggest summer hits.

Reports from all over are suggesting that this last weekend’s sales were down 40% from last year. Some are blaming the lower numbers on the weather, however, beautiful weather has not kept moviegoers from seeing such hits as Independence Day  or Spider-Man in years past. Even some of Hollywood’s worst bombs did fairly well on 4^th of July weekend. This isn’t to say that all financially successful films are good. Many are just “so-so” or even downright offensive.

This year, the “winner” was the 4^th installment of the Transformers series and its second week in for Age of Extinction ($55 million) followed by Tammy ($32 million), 22 Jump Street and Deliver Us from Evil (both about $14 million). Those numbers don’t sound that bad until you compare them to the top 12 of previous years:

1              Transformers: Dark of the Moon – $97,852,865 (2011)

2              Spider-Man 2 – $88,156,227 (2004)

3              Despicable Me 2 – $83,517,315   (2013)

4              Transformers – $70,502,384         (2007)

5              War of the Worlds – $64,878,725 (2005)

6              The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – $64,832,191  (2010)

7              Hancock – $62,603,879 (2008)

8              The Amazing Spider-Man – $62,004,688  (2012)

9              Superman Returns – $52,535,096 (2006)

10           Men in Black II – $52,148,751 (2002)

11           Men in Black – $51,068,455 (1997)

12           Independence Day – $50,228,264 (1996)