..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

WEEK TWENTY
IS THAT ALL THERE IS?

We started with Tom Cruise and we end with Tom Cruise… ah, the horror of symmetry. It's hard to say which evocation I more dislike. (Actually, I'll stop hedging… I prefer the bad movie to the bad soap opera.)

43 films opened wide this summer (2 more this weekend).

Theatrical box office, as people really paying attention last summer knew, is up, but basically stable.

In the most expensive summer season ever, studios were hit by the harsh realization - which started becoming clear 18 months ago, when Christmas DVD movie sales disappointed - that they could lose a shitload of money. Warner Bros has copped to losing money on four movies and will lose money on five. Paramount had some winners, but the red ink is still red on Mission: Impossible III. Fox had big hits with X3 and The Devil Wears Prada and major losers with Garfield 2, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and Just My Luck. Universal will make money on two crap comedies, but lose money on its one great summer film, Miami Vice.

Next summer is overloaded, but at least we can say that there are only four $200 million films on the schedule (Spidey 3, Pirates 3, Potter V, and Transformers).

Sony is in the marketshare lead for the year, but Disney won the summer with the #1 and #2 films drawing over $640 million domestic between them. Right now, that's the second best ever 1-2 studio summer punch, but they're only $5 million behind the leader. And who is the all-time leader? Disney's Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003. (Look for the studio to try to set a new record next summer with Pirates 3 and Brad Bird's Ratatouille.)

For 38 days, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was the fastest grossing movie ever (The FGME, if you recall). This is not to be confused with the MEFE (most expensive film ever), which was Superman Returns. In the nine days since P3 fell behind Shrek 2, it has fallen back by about $5.5 million. Both films are record setters, but Shrek 2, which was doing about twice as much per day after seven weeks as compared to what P2 is now doing, reminds us just how powerful the family film that really draws the under 10s can be.

But if there is a story this summer, it's that there really is no important summer story. Critics have been "dead" for years now. Studio losses have been brewing for more than a year. For all the squealing, Tom Cruise's M:I3 has grossed $393 million worldwide, his fifth best gross ever and the eighty-second highest grosser ever.

There were seven $300 million worldwide grossers this summer. But it's not nearly enough. The studios just spent too much money. There will be some money made - lots on Pirates, though P3 may be the next MEFE - but every one of these companies will be looking at the bottom line and trying to figure out how to make all those ticket sales more profitable.

On the indie side, the Summer of 2006 was one of the ugliest ever. The studio dependents and The Weinstein Co. and Lionsgate are just, for the most part, staying out of the game. We are in their busy period now, but between May 1 and August 11, a total of 14 films were released by this group on 100 screens or more. 8 did $10 million or more. The current high mark is Clerks II's $23.9 million. Little Miss Sunshine is expected to eclipse that soon. But nothing looks remotely like March of the Penguins or Fahrenheit 9/11.

Three of the biggest indie/dependent hits were the only releases from those companies this summer: Paramount Vantage (An Inconvenient Truth), Picturehouse (A Prairie Home Companion) and Fox Searchlight (Little Miss Sunshine).

Lionsgate remained the home of horror, with The Descent and See No Evil. Focus/Rogue remained in neutral with Waist Deep and Scoop. Miramax spun its wheels with The Night Listener and Keeping Up With The Steins, while WIP found no penguins in A Scanner Darkly or The Promise. The Weinstein's second summer release, Pulse, was hard to find and Sony Classics stuck its nose out with UA holdover, Art School Confidential, to little success.

One story that should be noted is the Family Film, as mentioned above. We had three CG animated films in the Top 15, plus Barnyard and The Ant Bully. That's a lot of animation. A lot! Expect a lot more caution in being the third or fourth animated films in summers to come, especially if the studio really likes the film, as Sony liked Monster House.

There were seven sequels this summer. Clerks II, as of now, leads all indie releases. Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties is the only sequel disaster. The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift underperformed, but Universal will hope to hit profit via a Japanese release and DVD. And the other four? They are four of the Top Eight seasonal grossers. 2007 will answer with 11 sequels. At least eight of the films are all but guaranteed to gross more than $100 million domestic. Hmmmm…

Six of the Top 13 films this summer were straight comedies. Talladega Nights will soon take the #1 spot from Click, with Meryl Streep in third, the wedding crashers in fourth & sixth with Jack Black fronting the #5 comedy. Even more impressive, the only real stiff into his category all summer was Just My Luck. Evan Almighty leads the way next summer, but look for a load of comedies to rev up in time - comedies can be made on a schedule and a budget - to take advantage of next summer's urge to laugh.

Movie stars didn't do badly this summer either. Depp, Hanks, Ferrell, Sandler, Cruise, Vaughn, Black, Wilson, Wayans and Cage make up half of the Top 20. And in the movie star category, the only under-$50 million movies were, again, Just My Luck, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Zoom, and Scoop.

In other words, same old shit, different summer.

Her come da fall, here come da fall…

This Week's Box Office Chart

THE COLUMN Week 19 - 8/17 Week 18 - 8/10 Week 17 - 8/03 Week 16 - 7/27 Week 15 - 7/20 Week 14 - 7/13 Week 14: Miami Vice Review Week 13 - 7/6 Week 12 - 6/29 Week 11 - 6/22 Week Ten - 6/15 Week Nine - 6/8 Week Eight - 6/1 Week Seven - 5/25 Week Six - 5/18 Week Five- 5/11 Week Four - 5/4 Week Three - 4/27 Week Two - 4/20 Week One - 4/13

THE BOX OFFICE CHARTS Week 19 - 8/17 Week 18 - 8/10 Week 17 - 8/03 Week 16 - 7/27 Week 14 - 7/13 Week 13 - 7/6 Week 12 - 6/29 Week 11 - 6/22 Week Ten - 6/15 Week Nine - 6/8 Week Seven - 5/25 Week Six- 5/18 Week Five - 5/11 Week Four - 5/4 Week Two - 4/20 Week One - 4/13

- Email David Poland