Tom Cruise stars in 'Edge of Tomorrow'.
Sylvester Stallone flexed his ageing biceps, Tom Cruise battled aliens and Cameron Diaz sizzled, but in the end nothing could save Hollywood from a disastrous summer.
Across North America, box office takings were down 15 per cent - the worst summer in eight years - and the biggest year-on-year collapse
in three decades. For the first time since 2001, no single film made US$300 million ($358 million) and none even came close. In July alone, box office receipts were down 30 per cent.
The stream of flops included Stallone's The Expendables 3, which had a budget of US$90 million and made back less than US$30 million in the US. Diaz's Sex Tape made less than US$40 million.
Last week's big release, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For starring Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis and Eva Green, took US$12 million, a fifth of what it cost to make.
Weinstein's Erik Lomis told Variety: "We weren't prepared for this level of rejection by the public. It's like the ice bucket challenge without the good cause."
