The Blockbuster Season Flickers to a Close

The 2002 summer movie season opened with a roar and closed with a whimper, with most of the blockbuster hits front-loaded in the torrid first months. Whether the movies were less appealing or audiences were saturated, attendance dropped off sharply in August.

Box-office records were set--from the beginning of May through the end of August, box-office gross was up about 10.4% from last year--but there was less cheery news as well.

Most family films flopped, and the playing field was so crowded with big-budget popcorn movies that often they had only one weekend to bring in an audience--usually teens--before another one came along.

“The speed with which films came and went was astonishing,” said 20th Century Fox co-chairman Jim Gianopolus. “Summer is a great playing time, but I think it does speak to the fact that the movies have to deliver and satisfy audiences or you are history.”

History was certainly made by Sony’s “Spider-Man,” which opened with an astonishing $114-million weekend en route to a $403-million domestic gross. It was the start of a spectacular summer for Sony, which also had $100-million-plus hits with “Men in Black II,” “Mr. Deeds” and “XXX.” Sony films took in more than $1 billion in ticket money this summer.

“Spider-Man” was followed two weeks later by Fox’s “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones” which--despite mixed reviews--ended up taking in more than $300 million in domestic ticket sales. That kicked off a winning streak for so-called “franchise” films like “Men in Black II” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember,”

By August, however, box office tailed off sharply, with many weekends falling well below year-ago ticket sales.

M. Night Shyamalan’s sci-fi thriller “Signs” was the end-of-summer breakout hit--it’s on track to gross more than $200 million--but most other major studio films, including Universal’s “Blue Crush,” Paramount’s “Serving Sara” and New Line Cinema’s “Simone,” had less than stellar openings.

Despite the relatively slow business in August, audiences this summer could find a broader than usual spectrum of movies at the local megaplex. Theater owners saw good business by offering independent films alongside the blockbusters.

“I think truly this summer there was room for everybody,” said Jeff Blake, Sony’s head of domestic and foreign distribution and marketing. “A lot of movies held up very well, both from the level of “Spider-Man” to a lot of little movies.”

Jerry Pokorski, executive vice president and head film buyer for Pacific Theaters, said business was good this summer, particularly because surprise hits like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (a $5-million film that had earned an estimated $82 million as of Monday) brought audiences back again and again. He says he has not seen that kind of repeat business since “Titanic” in 1997.

“I think what that points to is that people are looking for good stories. That is the biggest problem with Hollywood, that they are so wrapped up with the blockbuster that they forget about the story,” said Pokorski, who oversees the Grove, the Paseo theaters in Pasadena, the Arc Light and the Galleria Stadium 16 at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.

“Usually you don’t see these kinds of films in the summer. I think that what you are finding is that the smaller films are catching a bigger audience. And we have created access in all of our theaters for all those types of movies.”

Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, Dan Fellman, said the studio figured “Insomnia” and “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” both of which were released in early summer, would serve as good counterprogramming because they were aimed at the adult, rather than teen, market. The strategy paid off; the movies have grossed $67 million and $68 million, respectively.

“We looked at the competition, and they were the usual suspects of sequels and popcorn action movies and family movies,” he said. “We felt we had an opportunity to open up some upscale adult movies.”

The fact that some smaller movies, including “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Monsoon Wedding,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and “The Good Girl,” did so well this summer could be good news for adult audiences seeking more introspective fare next summer.

“Instead of crowding adult movies into the fall and holiday seasons, I think this opens up one more season for the adult audience,” said Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks, whose moody drama, “Road to Perdition,” had grossed almost $100 million as of Monday. That, however, does not mean audiences will see fewer adrenaline-fueled seasonal blockbusters next summer.

Already planned are “Charlie’s Angels 2,” “The Matrix Reloaded” and sequels to “XXX,” “Scooby-Doo” and “Spider-Man.”

As usual for summer hits, most of the movies that did well at the box office were, in the industry jargon, “critic-proof.”

Poor to mixed reviews for “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” “Scooby-Doo” and “Men in Black II” did not affect their box office; each took in more than $100 million. “We are not talking about reviews,” said Warner Bros.’ Fellman, who worked on the “Scooby-Doo” release. “We are talking about results.”

It was not a great summer for family movies. With the notable exceptions of “Scooby-Doo” and Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” most films, like Disney’s “The Country Bears,” Warner Bros. “The Powerpuff Girls” and Sony’s “Stuart Little 2,” flopped at the box office. Although Miramax’s “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams” made a healthy $69 million, it never reached the box-office heights of the original “Spy Kids,” which in 2001 took in almost $120 million.

“The real casualty of the summer has been the G or PG movie, which attempted to capture the interest of the family,” said Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Pictures. “But their interest was gravitating toward the tent-pole PG-13 title.”