$2-Billion Summer : Movie Box-Office Lines Show No Signs of Ending

The summer to end them all was 1984, when “Ghostbusters,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Star Trek IV” and “The Karate Kid” combined for box-office grosses that studio executives and film exhibitors didn’t allow themselves to dream about. Now, with sequels of those same movies providing kindling, the summer of ’89 is burning up even the records of ’84.

So far, moviegoers have shelled out $1.23 billion to see “Ghostbusters 2,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Star Trek V,” and “The Karate Kid 3,” as well as such blockbusters as “Batman” and “Lethal Weapon 2.” At the midpoint of the summer, grosses are up 29% over last year and headed for Hollywood’s first $2 billion season.

“There’s no question about it, it’s going to be the biggest summer ever,” even allowing for higher ticket prices, said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., an L.A.-based company that compiles box office figures.

Still to come are 20th Century Fox’s “The Abyss” (Aug. 9), a $50 million underwater thriller; “Lock-Up” (Aug. 4) starring Sylvester Stallone; “Parenthood” (Aug. 2) with Steve Martin, and “Turner and Hooch” (Friday) with Tom Hanks.

“We have a lot of good pictures yet to go in the summer,” Krier said.

The biggest hit of the summer will unquestionably be “Batman,” which had a record-breaking opening ($42 million) and should top $200 million by the end of the weekend. Still, a number of other pictures attracted huge audiences.

Three of the top five summer box office leaders are sequels, demonstrating that the public’s appetite for big action, big budget series hasn’t diminished. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” No. 3 in that series, broke opening weekend box office records and now has $172 million in the till. The “Indiana Jones” opening weekend record stood until “Ghostbusters II” opened (the film has grossed $98.5 million) and set a new record that lasted just one week before the smash opening of “Batman.”

“Lethal Weapon 2” didn’t threaten the “Batman” opening numbers, but it has done $71.6 million of box office business in three weeks and will soon pass “Ghostbusters II” as the summer’s third biggest hit.

“This was the year of the sequels that did well,” Krier said. “Last year there were practically as many as sequels but they didn’t do as well. It’s just that this year’s sequels were based on pictures that originally had bigger grosses.”

However, there were a few clunkers this summer, at least measured against expectations.

Two of the biggest ones were sequels, proving that using tried-and-true formulas was not a guarantee of success this summer and suggesting that some story lines may have run their course. The latest James Bond installment “Licence to Kill” has made $18 million since opening July 14, far less than was expected. “Karate Kid III,” like “Star Trek V,” opened strongly, then faded fast. “Karate Kid III” has grossed just $31 million. “Star Trek V,” which is almost played out, has taken in $48.2 million.

“It’s serendipity that so many major films arrived at one time,” said Art Murphy, box office analyst for Daily Variety, referring to the summer’s blockbusters.

Serendipity seems to have also played a part in the selections of moviegoers. Disney’s “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Dead Poets Society” emerged as unlikely hits in an otherwise action-film dominated summer.

“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” shattered all Disney studio records on its opening weekend, grossing $14.3 million, eclipsing last year’s hot “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” and easily knocking heavy-hitters “Ghostbusters II” and “Indiana Jones” at the top of the chart, trailing only “Batman.” “Honey” has grossed $87 million so far.

Another sleeper, “Dead Poets Society,” opened strongly and held on among the leaders through much of June and July. It has grossed $70 million so far.

Columbia’s romantic comedy, “When Harry Met Sally . . . ,” has also done well since opening July 12, grossing $11 million on less than 800 screens.

“There’s a smorgasbord out there,” Krier said. “There’s something for every taste.”

Harold Mintz, a research analyst at Cinemascore, a private exit polling company, said “Almost every movie that got released this summer by a major was good quality product.” Mintz said that moviegoers rated three movies (“Dead Poets Society,” “When Harry Met Sally . . . “ and “Lethal Weapon 2”) with an A+, and three (“Batman,” “Honey” and “Indiana Jones”) with an A.

“We’ve only had seven (A+ ratings) in 10 years,” Mintz said.

Summer movies are usually calculated to showcase the studio’s best offerings because summer moviegoing accounts for 40% of yearly ticket sales, Murphy said. Released at a time when adults are on vacation and children are out of school, summer films are traditionally lighter fare than films released at other times of the year.

“There’s an ambiance of summer films,” Murphy said. “Most popular summer films tend to be escapist, comedy, adventure. That doesn’t mean every other film is shut out . . . After all, look at ‘Dead Poets Society.’ But you don’t have as many heavy melodramas as you do in the other seasons because people don’t go to see ‘Medea’ in the summer. And people don’t read Tolstoy in the summer.”

Given the record-breaking nature of the summer, most of the big blockbusters are expected to continue to draw crowds after the season is over.

“The strong films from the summer are sort of the underpinning of the fall,” Murphy said.