Analysis: Why did 'Detroit's' flames fizzle out?

What if Hollywood threw a provocation and nobody came?

There will almost certainly be larger financial failures than "Detroit" in this moviegoing year. And there will doubtless be bigger celebrity crash-outs.

But there are unlikely to be many greater cultural surprises than the reaction _ or nonreaction _ to "Detroit."

Kathryn Bigelow's fact-based movie about a shattering, race-charged event of police brutality in the Motor City circa 1967 that led to the deaths of three young black men was supposed to be the cinematic event of the summer _ the antidote (along with "Dunkirk") to superhero fatigue, a dose of studio seriousness amid the sizzle. With questions of racism roiling the White House, it also couldn't have come along at a better (or worse) time.

Yet three