Bottom Of The Barrel

2007 Summer Movie Review

2007 was a banner year for the motion picture industry. In the 18 weeks which comprises the summer movie season [May 4th through September 3rd], the industry recorded sales for 4.33 billion dollars. That is up more then 11% from last year's 3.896 billion even though ticket sales were only up 6% [632.2 million in 2007 versus 593.9 million in 2006].

Here is the top ten grossing movies this summer with their current income in the millions:

Spider-Man 3 [$336.5]
Shrek The Third [$321.0]
Transformers [$310.6]
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [$308.7]
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [$286.8]
300 [$210.6]
The Bourne Ultimatum [$202.8]
Ratatouille [$201.2]
The Simpsons Movie [$178.5]
Knocked Up [$147.7]
Live Free or Die Hard [$133.1]

The summer of sequels does not have many surprises at the top of the list [Spider-Man, Shrek, Pirates, Bourne or Die Hard] and of course the animated films [Shrek, Ratatouille or Simpsons] did well and naturally most knew Transformers would rock the box office. So what's left? 300 and Knocked Up? Well you need 1 break out comedy each summer and Knocked was the feel good dramedy to fill that roll so only 300 is the real surprise and maybe went under the radar a bit with all of those big names on the marques.

All-in-all a very good year for Hollywood and this type of revenue really sets the bar high for next summer. It looks like there will be several sequels/reboots next year [like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones IV, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight and The Mummy 3] and a few promising new properties [such as Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Get Smart] but can they top 4.33 billion? I'm not sure they can but I'm sure they will try like hell.

posted by TheWino @ 2:50 PM