The annual string of big-budget spectaculars is slowing to a crawl as Labor Day looms ever closer, and this year’s roster of films has come up short at the box office.

Barring a miraculous turnaround in the next two weeks, 2014 will be the first summer movie season since 2001 in which no one film’s gross broke $300 million at the U.S. box office. When adjusting for ticket inflation, 2014 would be the first summer to not cross this threshold since “Jaws” made blockbusters a summer staple in 1975.

Confusingly, this summer’s meager box office cannot easily be chalked up to the quality of the films released.

So what happened? What could possibly have gotten in the way of the American people and our thirst for bombastic CGI wonders? It’s my view that the movies were just too ?depressing this year.

Sure, popular films have always had villains and danger. Becoming invested in on-screen characters whose lives hang in the balance is one of the major joys of going to the movies.

But looking at the last four years of summer blockbusters, the most successful films in each respective year all offer more than just that.

They offer a core message of hope and recovery.