The Hollywood Reporter has published an interesting look at how Hollywood re-aligns its releases out of fear of the FIFA World Cup. The high-profile soccer tournament takes place every 4 years, and is one of the most watched events on television. For example, in 2010 3.2 billion people watched the World Cup. That’s nearly half the world’s population. As such, the monthlong sporting event tends to wreak havoc on big summer film releases that are geared towards males. This would explain why so many major studio blockbusters are releasing within the two-month span of July and August this year, while June looks fairly vacant.

There is one blockbuster that is going to go toe-to-toe with millions of soccer hooligans this June, though. Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction is set to open on June 27, hoping that it will benefit from being the only big dog in town. The rest of June’s releases will be lower risk comedies like 22 Jump Street and family films like How To Train Your Dragon 2.

Meanwhile, bookending the tournament will be Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow the weekend before it begins, and Dawn of The Planet of The Apes on the weekend it ends. Then the rest of the summer will see a crowded lineup that includes Jupiter Ascending, Guardians of The Galaxy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hercules: The Thracian Wars, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, and The Expendables 3.

“Hollywood has been dealing with the World Cup for many years now and seems to have adapted fairly well. The problem is, it does cause a glut of product subsequent to the games,” says Anthony Marcoly, Paramount international president. “With a film like Transformers: Age of Extinction and most summer blockbusters, the core audience is identical to that of the World Cup. It is far too risky to compete with the World Cup and generate the huge box-office returns needed.“

SOURCE: THR