TV-MOVIES
Why Michael Bay's Ambulance Bombed At The Box Office
By CHRIS PEREZ
Michael Bay's latest movie, "Ambulance," dropped in theaters April 8th and suffered a full-on stroke at the box office. According to Variety, the action-packed heist thriller raked in an embarrassing $8.7 million domestically, despite being shown in more than 3,400 theaters across North America.
Film analysts believe the "Netflix-ification" of action movies in recent years has caused people to basically ignore blockbusters like "Ambulance" when they hit theaters. While some experts believe the success of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" as a major factor, most believe that ever-growing action movie libraries on streaming apps played the biggest role.
"Big-budget action movies were once the bastion of the big screen," explained Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore. "Only the movie theater [could] render these expensive films profitable."
"Today's audiences want something special every time," said David A. Gross, head of the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "The bar is set higher now."