August was already shaping up to be a rough month at the box office, and the actors’ strike just made things significantly worse

The summer season usually begins to draw to a close during August at the box office anyway, but the chances of any movie breaking out of the pack and becoming either a surprise or sleeper hit has been dealt a severe blow by both actors and writers currently being on strike.

As things stand, nobody involved in an upcoming production that’s either a SAG or WGA member will be able to attend red carpet premieres, conduct press interviews, or promote their latest project in any way, shape, or form, which is of course one of the major driving forces behind drumming up excitement and anticipation for the many big budget offerings coming down the pipeline that cover the entire genre spectrum.

In even worse news, none of the movies set to release in the next few weeks are even projected to fly particularly high, and the complete absence of any promo work on the part of the cast, crew, and creative teams could ensure this coming August as one of the weakest in living memory.

Of course, there’s always the chance the likes of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie, and Oppenheimer can hold the fort for a few weeks, but the massively expensive newbies such as Meg 2: The Trench, Gran Turismo, and Haunted Mansion are all tracking for opening weekends between $15 million and $35 million, while Dracula spin-off The Last Voyage of the Demeter will be lucky if it cracks double digits at this rate.

Then there’s Blue Beetle, which faces an uphill battle to avoid becoming DCU’s third commercial catastrophe of the year, and its task got a lot tougher now nobody involved is allowed to big it up.