Part 3/10:
Summer releases also faltered: Mission Impossible didn’t perform as expected, and even Superman and Fantastic Four failed to meet their inflated ambitions. The only notable exception was Lilo & Stitch, which barely surpassed the billion-dollar threshold, and even then, it was just barely enough to be considered a success.
On the domestic front, revenue was only on par with last year, and international numbers took a nosedive as foreign audiences stayed away in droves. The industry’s hope that big franchises, especially male-oriented tentpoles, would naturally draw crowds proved unfounded, with attendance among key demographics notably lacking.