The Summer's Biggest Winners and Losers

The summer movie season is now practically over, as the summer movie season now gives way to the fall and the Oscar race. This summer was mostly like every other summer, with the usual critically panned CGI blockbusters, family-friendly sequels, and even a surprise hit or two. This summer couldn't quite match up to the previous summer movie season, which had the likes of Iron Man and The Dark Knight stealing the thunder. But this summer had a fair share of big winners, and a few big losers that would like to put the summer behind them. Here are the highs and lows of summer movies in 2009.

Summer movie winners

Science fiction: The science fiction genre had a fairly good summer for itself, in big and small films. If one can count Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as science fiction, the genre delivered the biggest hit of the summer season. Sci-fi rose to the top right away by reviving one of its flagship franchises, Star Trek, to begin the summer, then brought us District 9 to close it out. Indie theaters even got a science fiction boost with the small but acclaimed thriller Moon.

Pixar: The last few Pixar films were regarded as great hits, but perhaps too high-brow and experimental to make Toy Story and Finding Nemo money. Up looked to be no different, since it was about an old man in a balloon, and started off with a sad 10 minute prologue. But the kids and adults came Up for the ride, as Pixar got its biggest hit since Finding Nemo, and continued its unparalleled critical winning streak.

Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds was Quentin Tarantino's latest attempt to return to Pulp Fiction form. Things didn't look good early on for Tarantino, after Basterds disappointed many at Cannes. And although the ads and trailers promised an all-out Nazi bloodbath, Tarantino instead delivered an 150 minute, multi-character historical rewrite in which a charming Nazi overshadowed Brad Pitt. Yet despite all that, Tarantino got his best reviews in a decade, put Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa into the evil hall of fame, and got his best box office numbers - for now.

Zach Galifiankis: Stand up comic fans may have heard of Zach Galifiankis's name, and even learned how to pronounce it. But this summer, millions got a Hangover thanks in part to Galifiankis, as he broke through into movie stardom with his part in the surprise comedy hit. For good measure, Galifiankis got himself into another $100 million plus hit this summer - albeit by playing second banana to the G-Force. In a year where many big movie stars faltered, Galifiankis became one of the summer's most bankable names.

Iraq: For the first time since the war, Iraq became a destination that many critics and audiences wanted to go to. Granted, The Hurt Locker didn't become the first Iraq blockbuster, since it was just an indie film. But critics hailed The Hurt Locker as the first successful Iraq war themed film, as it substituted political posturing for white-knuckle thrills - and may actually take Iraq to the Oscars as a result.

Summer movie losers

Universal Studios: It wasn't good to have the Universal Studios logo attached to the beginning of a summer movie this year. Drag Me To Hell got great write ups but little box office, while Land of the Lost had both lousy reviews and lousy box office. Public Enemies disappointed many who had Oscar hopes for it, while both Bruno and Funny People tanked after a good opening weekend. Universal needed to attach itself to Inglourious Basterds - although that was a Weinstein Company project - to wrap up the summer on a high note.

Comic book movies: At this time last summer, super heroes were more powerful than ever. But in 2009, the caped crusaders largely took this season off and are getting a much deserved rest. Unfortunately, the one leftover superhero film of this summer, X-Men Origins: Wolverine did not get the season off to a good start. This was the summer of aliens, drunks and robots - but comic book movies should be back on the mountaintop fairly soon enough.

Bruno: The last time Sacha Baron Cohen punked America, Borat was the biggest thing in comedy. Bruno, on the other hand, was just a step too far for many. Bruno pushed the envelope to even greater degrees than Borat, but less movie goers wanted to see Bruno push that envelope so graphically. With reviews pretty mixed as well, it was less tempting to blame Bruno's disappointing post-opening weekend box office on homophobia. Instead of continuing Baron Cohen's prankster reign, Bruno may be the end of his mockumentary era.

A-list comedians: The likes of Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Sasha Baron Cohen and Jack Black could make films open big - once upon a time. But Ferrell had his biggest bomb with Land of the Lost, while Sandler impressed critics but not the box office with Funny People, Cohen took a step back with Borat, while Murphy and Black's latest disappointments were Imagine That and Year One. Ben Stiller had a hit with Night at the Museum 2, but not many people came to see him. The biggest comedy names this summer were Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifiankis, as it turned out.

Women: This movie year in general has not been very good for women, with half the romantic comedies this year classified as sexist. The summer, of course, is not a haven for many strong female characters - case in point, Transformers being dominated by Megan Fox's chest bouncing in slow motion almost as much as the warring robots. Chick-flicks tried to find a place in summer with The Proposal and The Ugly Truth - but although The Proposal did well for Sandra Bullock, Katherine Heigl sank to new lows when she discovered The Ugly Truth. Leave it to Meryl Streep to be the biggest female star of the summer once again, this time as Julia Child.