Hollywood is banking on a fish named Dory and other tentpoles waiting in the wings to close the gap.

The early summer box office in North America has developed a case of the blues, with revenue down sharply over last year.

Revenue for the May 6-June 12 period is roughly $1.24 billion, a 22 percent decline from the $1.597 billion collected between May 1-June 14 in 2015. Due to the vagaries of the calendar, the summer tally officially started on May 1 in 2015, compared with May 6 this year when Captain America: Civil War debuted.

Even when adding on an extra week for 2016 by beginning the count with the April 29-May 1 weekend, revenue for this year ($1.377 billion) is still down 14 percent from 2015.