jason bourne

About two months ago, on a day when I was in no way questioning my career path and life choices, I asked a question: “Is 2016 the worst summer movie season ever?” In early July, it was probably a little premature to raise that issue, but with theaters were filled with dreck like Independence Day: Resurgence, The Legend of Tarzan, and Alice Through the Looking Glass, it was hard not to wonder. At that time, I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes ratings from hundreds of wide releases from the last decade, and found that while the overall scores from 2016 were basically in line with those from ones from each of the last five years, the scores for just the biggest movies, the ones like Tarzan or Independence Day with budgets in excess of $100 million, were way lower this year.

Here at ScreenCrush, we’ve made no secret of the fact that we think 2016 has been a disappointing year for summer movies. With everything from The BFG to Warcraft: The Beginning struggling in theaters, the evidence is stacking up that 2016 might be the worse year for summer movies, ever. Still, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon: both Star Trek Beyond and Jason Bourne come out this month, and those two franchises have historically managed to balance smarts and action in equal amounts.