Spring looks more like summer

April used to be a question mark in terms of moviegoing -- a time when fewer people headed to theaters, waiting for the summer features to kick in. But all that’s changing. With four wide releases last weekend, another four opening Friday and five the following week, the marketplace is unusually crowded -- a standing-room-only affair.

“We’re making some headway toward establishing April as more of a moviegoing month,” said Brandon Gray, president of the box office tracking firm boxofficemojo.com. “And, unlike last year, when ‘Anger Management’ took in twice as much as the No. 2 picture, there are several strong contenders, movies everyone knows upfront could be big.”

“The Passion of the Christ” was by far the first quarter’s breakaway hit, driving revenues to what is expected to be a record $2.07 billion for the period, according to Nielsen EDI, which also tracks box office performance. Still, the movie didn’t decimate the competition. Films such as “Starsky & Hutch,” “Hidalgo” and “Dawn of the Dead” opened well. And before the release of the Mel Gibson film, “Fifty First Dates,” “Along Came Polly,” “Miracle” and “Barbershop 2: Back in Business” had strong openings. Last weekend, “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” landed at the top of the box office, with $29.4 million.

“ ‘The Passion’ turned this quarter on its ear,” said Dan Marks, president of Nielsen EDI. “But it showed that the market is expandable and created momentum for the industry. People start to go and check out what else is out there.”

Of this weekend’s releases, “Hellboy,” Guillermo del Toro’s dark comic-book adventure, has the feeling of a summer movie, Gray suggested, while Disney’s animated “Home on the Range” and “Walking Tall,” in which The Rock plays a retired Special Forces soldier, are high-profile films. “The Prince & Me,” a fairy tale romance starring Julia Stiles, skews young and female, giving it an edge in a field filled with macho fare.

One of the more closely watched matchups takes place mid-April, Gray said, when “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” and “The Punisher” go head-to-head. And, in a different vein, “Connie and Carla,” Nia Vardalos’ follow-up to the 2002 sleeper hit “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” is also due out the same weekend.

To separate themselves from the rest of the pack -- and the inevitable publicity clutter -- studios are relying on sneak previews, a tried-and-true method of increasing awareness and generating positive buzz. Sequels such as the latest in the “Harry Potter” franchise, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” have little to gain from such exposure. Others such as DreamWorks’ “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton” tanked despite the advance play.

Last Saturday, MGM’s “Walking Tall” was slipped onto 770 screens nationwide for a one-time early showing. Sixty percent of those interviewed in exit polls rated the movie “excellent” and 37% “very good,” according to Erik Lomis, MGM’s president of distribution. Sixteen percent of the theaters were sold out, about a quarter were 75-90% full and nearly a third were at 50-75% of capacity, he said.

“Our primary competition is ‘Hellboy,’ which skews toward the same demographic,” he said. “We’re going to hurt them and they’re going to hurt us, because 61% of our audience was male -- 50% of them over 26 years old. With such a crowded field, we’re all battling it out for shelf space, especially in the small towns where PG-13 movies go in first.”

Taking a slightly different tack, Sony gave “Hellboy” a sneak preview in only two theaters, one in New York, the other in L.A., to create what president of distribution Rory Bruer described as a more special feel in the two largest moviegoing markets.

Paramount previewed “The Prince & Me” in just more than 800 theaters. Seventy-eight percent of the audience was female, 12-18 years old, and 80% rated the movie “excellent” or “very good,” said Wayne Lewellen, the studio’s president of motion picture distribution. On Saturday night, the theaters were filled to about 70% capacity and on Sunday afternoon slightly less.

The film that shook up traditional release patterns, according to Lewellen, was 1996’s “Twister” -- a May 10 release. After the picture did huge business, he says, a period traditionally viewed as a graveyard became a hotly contested stretch.

“Summer now begins in the early part of May,” he said. “That’s good for distributors and good for exhibitors, who have to keep theaters open year-round.”

Though the Adam Sander-Drew Barrymore comedy “50 First Dates” fit the profile of a summer release, Sony opened it on Valentine’s Day, paving the way for a gross to date of $116.7 million. “It’s a 12-month-a-year business, as this April glut demonstrates,” Bruer said. “Studios realize that if you’ve got the goods you can open pictures every week.”