Box Office Hurting As Summer Draws To An End

CNBC's Julia Boorstin

that the "popcorn flicks" are done with, and its time for awards season. This is hurting the box office though. George Clooney's 'The American' won the weekend box office with a $19.5 million take, hardly anything worth writing home about. The film only cost $20 million to make, so it's well on its way to make a profit, but this isn't helping returns at the box office. Despite pricier tickets and the increase in 3-D movies, box office receipts fell 1% to $4.24 billion, and the number of tickets sold fell 6%. Seasonality is a big reason for this, as there was one less weekend this year compared to last year. Yet, the lack of good films had more to do with this than anything else. 'Iron Man 2', 'Toy Story 3', and 'Inception' were the big winners this summer, while 'Sex and the City 2' 'Prince of Persia' and 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' were box office duds. For more on this story, and more on the entertainment industry, visit Julia Boorstin's