Can I just suggest that one reason the box office has been "down" is the unremitting pile of crap Hollywood has been shovelling at us? When there's more drama in Tom Cruise's latest relationship—not to mention that advisor hanging over his intended's should (is the "advisor" evil, or are those just lighting tricks?)—than in most completed screenplays; when the best dramatic film thus far this year is based on a old-line comic book—as is the worst (which is not to say that all comic books are non-dramatic); when the biggest laughs come from the unintentional non sequiturs; is it any wonder that any measure of quality is in the same direction as the box office?
All it's going to take, though, is for an expected blockbuster to really take off, or for a small film to become a moderate blockbuster, to enable the industry's executives to stick their heads back in the sand for another few years. Then, like clockwork, a little over a year from now we'll see five or six attempts to clone that moderate "success." And then we'll be right back here. It's like watching a train wreck. In slow motion.
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In any event, by the middle of this week I expect to have my end-of-Term review up. It's been a lot longer than I usually like to let these things sit—first impressions are important!—but I've been tied up with family stuff.