It hasn't been a summer to remember for A-listers Will Smith and Johnny Depp, normally bankable box office stars, whose summer fare has landed with a thud in theaters. Smith's sci-fi adventure "After Earth" had less than worldly returns while Depp's western "The Lone Ranger" barely produced a gallop.

That recent trend turned alarming this past weekend as the sci-fi action comedy "R.I.P.D." had a dismal North American debut, continuing a Hollywood streak of weekly box office bombs for films that cost more than 100 million dollars (USD) to make.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's box office division explains;

SOUNDBITE Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's box office division, saying (English):

"Well, the summer movie season of 2013 has literally been littered with big budget high profile flops. This has been very problematic for for Hollywood, because, despite the fact that the summer box office has been up 10 percent over the last year,