USA: The summer movie season kicks off with third installments of "Spider-Man," "Shrek" and "Pirates of the Caribbean"

The summer movie season is officially upon us. When "Spider-Man 3" debuts this weekend, it kicks off four months of big-budget Hollywood films. At least fourteen carry the promise of blockbuster status, and more than 100 others are vying to be the surprise hit of the annual box office boom. Plus, a dozen of the upcoming big-screen offerings are sequels. In May, "Spider-Man 3" is joined by "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." The following three months feature even more sequels such as "Ocean's Thirteen," "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "The Bourne Ultimatum." Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian predicts big things from some of the first movies out of the gate. "'Spider-Man 3,' you know, following up on the promise created by the first film," says Dergarabedian. "The first 'Spider-Man,' which was the 100 million (USD) opening weekend film ever and set the bar really high. I think this one is kicking off the summer in high style. May 4 is a great date. Right after that comes 'Shrek the Third' on May 18, that one again a follow-up to a hugely successful 'Shrek 2,' which opened with a huge 108 million (USD) itself. Then we have 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' following up on last year's record-breaking opening weekend of 135 million (USD)." Meanwhile, the actors featured in the upcoming films are among the most well-known of global pop celebrity: Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Johnny Depp. Major movie studios pump hundreds of millions into making and promoting summer movies because the period from May through August can account for up to 40 percent of annual ticket sales in the United States and nearly as much in other countries. Last year, the season generated nearly 3.9 billion (USD) of the roughly 9.5 billion (USD) domestic -- U.S. and Canada -- box office haul, according to Dergarabedian's company Media by Numbers. Spurred by smash hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," 2006 ranked No. 3 among top summer seasons. At No. 1 is 2004, when "Shrek 2" and "Spider-Man 2" rocked theaters. Whether the new versions of those three movies generate excitement and expand ticket sales in May or, as some fear, cannibalize each other's box office remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, excitement in Hollywood is running high. "I think '07 is going to be really earmarked by the fact that there's 20 sequels right now set for release," predicts Dergarabedian. "At least twelve of those for the summer alone and I've done some checking and based on my calculations in years where we have more sequels, the box office tends to be higher." The creators of both "Spider-Man 3" and the third "Pirates" promise to complete their trilogies on high notes. "Spider-Man" alter ego Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) learns how to handle the dark side of superhero fame, and in the final week of May pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is plucked from depths of the deep blue sea. Other new films which will be the third in a series also promise to please. "But 'Rush Hour 3,' 'Bourne Ultimatum,' 'Evan Almighty,' some of these other ones are at a different level," explains Dergarabedian. "They're not superhero movies, but they're certainly follow-ups to, you know, very high-grossing films, very successful films. I think 'Rush Hour 3,' it's been a while since the second one. 'Bourne Ultimatum,' look, those Bourne movies are very good films. I mean, they're action movies but they're gritty, great scripts and I think this one will do quite well." June brings the boys of big-budget "Ocean's Thirteen" -- Pitt, Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and the rest -- back to Las Vegas to try to pull off another casino caper. And, after a long absence from theaters, Bruce Willis reprises his role as justice-seeking tough guy John McClane in "Live Free or Die Hard," while on the comedy front, funnyman Steve Carrell plays a TV news anchorman turned into a version of the Bible's animal-saving Noah in "Evan Almighty." "And then of course the third instalment of the Ocean's series, 'Ocean's Thirteen,' is sort of this caper, usually it's a caper movie, it's a little more fun, more lightweight, and a different type of genre than your typical superhero genre or sci-fi, or big action film," says Dergarabedian. "So there's a lot of variety out there, there are a lot of sequels, there's a lot of originality out there as well and I think having a Pixar film out there in the mix is a very good thing, 'Ratatouille.'" The animated feature "Ratatouille," the latest offering from CGI powerhouse Pixar, is set for release at the end of June. The movie follows the story of a young rat named Remy who is living within the walls of a famous Paris bistro and wishes to fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming a chef. Animation buffs can also look forward to surfing penguins in "Surf's Up," which while not technically a sequel does follow closely on the heels of last year's Oscar winner "Happy Feet." Dergarabedian sums up this upcoming season in this way. "I think the pitfall with having so many sequels this summer is that people may just get burned out on all these sequels," he says. "But again, the box office results kind of say that people love sequels, they keep showing up for them. Studios are going to keep churning them out. It's problematic, though, when basically if the top ten is made up of all sequels, where's the originality, and I think that's a bigger picture question." For now, though, all eyes will be on the weekly box office tallies with some analysts looking for North American moviegoers to spend as much as a billion dollars by the end of May.

ITN Source | May 9, 2007

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