NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - The duds just keep coming this summer in North America, from The Mummy to Alien: Covenant to Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

But do not expect Hollywood studios to stop churning out more costly films.

Even as many franchise films and reboots have tanked, they have done well elsewhere.

Theatre-goers in America thought the fifth Transformers edition was a yawn but in China they liked it.

For now at least, the rest of the world - China in particular - is supporting Hollywood's love affair with sequels and rehashes. The risk is that sequel fatigue will set in overseas too.

Chinese moviegoers are becoming more choosy and the fastest-growing film market is slowing down.

Not every sequel has fallen flat in North America, of course.

Wonder Woman and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 did well.

And there are high hopes for Spider-Man: Homecoming and War For Planet Of The Apes.

But the second-quarter domestic box office ended down 3.6 per cent from a year ago.

Even with big-budget films flopping at home, movies can earn money for years to come from digital downloads and sales to Netflix and other streaming sites and cable-television channels.