2007 Summer Movie Roundup

The sound you may be hearing is either that of cash registers opening and closing or the gleeful cheers of Hollywood executives who witnessed the most profitable summer in movie history. As the season closed more then $4 billion was taken in from early May until the end of August. Why?

One likely reason was the release of 14 sequels and a remake. Hollywood has never been accused of originality but when moviegoers flock to the third and fourth films in a series and make them smash hits no matter how inferior, what incentive do studios have to risk money on new and original films?

Forty-six movies opened over the summer season and an astounding seventeen of them grossed over $100 million. But it appears that movie fans were going to the same movies as an even more astounding twenty-four flopped with several others under achieving based on their budgets and expected gross.

It was the summer of the 3's as the expected battle for supremacy with the third film in the series played out with big numbers. Six 'Part 3's' opened this summer and all six grossed over $100 million with four of them grossing over $200 million. Three of them grossed over $300 million. Spiderman 3 led the way grossing $336 million with Shrek The Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End not far behind. And while they raked in big dollars it was universally believed that all of them were the weakest entry in the series. Oceans Thirteen was the biggest disappointment of the group grossing $117 million. Rush Hour 3 was the biggest surprise of the group overcoming mostly bad reviews to quickly roar over the century mark. Only one of the films lived up to critical and audience expectations while making its big bucks and that was the return of Matt Damon as the amnesiac government agent in The Bourne Ultimatum.

Harry Potter continued its strong showing with a near $300 million gross for the fifth film in the series. Bruce Willis revived his Die Hard character for a fourth go around with Live Free or Die Hard and grossed an impressive $140 million. The superheroes of known as the Fantastic Four came back this summer and notched another $132 million to their arsenal despite horrendous reviews. Steve Carrell had another hit with Evan Almighty, yet another comedy that received dismal reviews but still grossed $100 million..

The biggest non-sequel hit of the summer was Michael Bay's action/special effects extravaganza Transformers. The film grossed $309 million despite reviews that mirror most of Bay's films: too frantically paced relying heavily on visuals with a thin story and little to no character development. Casting Shia LeBouf in the lead was a masterstroke as he is the new king to teenagers, especially girls.

Adam Sandler continues to defy critics with I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which grossed $118 million. John Travolta helped keep the movie the movie musical alive with Hairspray and the film topped out at just over $100 million.

The kings of the summer of 2007 may be two men who you may not know enough of but are sure to hear more of in the future and their names are Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan. Both men were part of two of the comedy sleepers of the summer that just happened to be the two best comedies of the summer. Apatow, director of 2005's The 40-Year Old Virgin, directed the comedy Knocked Up starring Rogan as a twenty-something going nowhere in life who suddenly discovers maturation when a one night stand gets pregnant. The film received strong reviews and the public followed suit. Apatow also produced the teen comedy Superbad in which Rogan plays a supporting role and co-wrote the script. The raunchy comedy proved you don't have to be rated PG-13 to grab an audience and its gross is headed towards the $100 million mark.

Two other sleepers this summer were 1408, a ghost story with John Cusack as a writer who stays in a very haunted room in a posh New York hotel. The film, based on a story by Stephen King, grossed $71 million. The other sleeper is less a surprise in it being a hit but more of a surprise in how big a hit it was. The Simpsons Movie brought out the die hard fans and even less die hard fans despite being able to see the show for free (Homer Simpson even points that fact out at the beginning of the movie and refers to the paying audience as "suckers."). The film has grossed over $170 million, which is almost double what was first predicted.

Kids were well represented this summer with eight movies but, much like last year, kids seemed to prefer seeing the big hits over and over instead of sampling other films made for them. The aforementioned Shrek The Third led the way and the only other clear blockbuster was Ratatouille. Meet The Robinsons was also a solid hit. Surf's Up was a mild hit but fell well below expectations. Underdog did mild business while Daddy Day Camp and Nancy Drew flopped.

One of last year's sleepers was The Devil Wears Prada so, naturally, another similar film came out this year with less then flattering result. The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johansson, flopped.

Some big name actors didn't fare too well this summer. Catherine Zeta Jones (No Reservations), Jane Fonda (Georgia Rule), Jennifer Lopez (El Cantante), Robert DeNiro (Stardust), Nicole Kidman (The Invasion), Robin Williams (License To Wed), Jet Li (War), Kevin Bacon (Death Sentence), Kevin Costner (Mr. Brooks) and Samuel L. Jackson (Resurrecting The Champ) all appeared in flops.

Three movies you wouldn't expect to see in summer, because of subject matter, star power and award implications, came and went quietly thus proving audiences don't want to get serious until fall. Despite strong reviews and possible nominations early next year, Bug (Ashley Judd), Evening (Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave) and A Might Heart (Angelina Jolie) all disappeared quickly.

Three films that barely registered a blip on the box office, deservedly so based on the reviews, were Delta Farce, Hot Rod and D.O.A. - Dead Or Alive.

Lindsay Lohan's personal problems carried over to her film career. After back-to-back flops (Herbie Fully Loaded; Just My Luck) the last two summers Lohan came back with two movies that no one went to see. Georgia Rule was a comedy that was too dramatic and not funny enough and I Know Who Killed Me was a thriller that didn't thrill.

Interestingly scary films also failed badly this summer. Apparently studios better get on the ball and realize their target audience doesn't want to be scared until October gets closer on the calendar. On the very last weekend Rob Zombie's atrocious remake of John Carpenter's classic Halloween grossed over $31 million on its opening weekend. With its small budget the film is already in the black. The news was not so good for the other six scary films to open. 28 Weeks Later, Hostel II, Captivity, I Know Who Killed Me, The Invasion and Death Sentence are all flops.

Now true movie fans can look forward to thinking again. As the leaves fall and the temperatures cool we can expect to be moved and enthralled by serious, talented filmmakers.