Jedis, brides, specters and spies add up to record movie summer

From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, the take at U.S. theaters was estimated at just under $3 billion, shattering the previous high of $2.6 billion in 1998.

A record 11 movies have taken in more than $100 million each, and a 12th is expected to join the club.

All this comes at a time when the Internet, video rentals and cable and satellite television offer more alternative diversions than ever before.

"We are a culture that likes to get out of the house," said Tom Sherak, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox. "We like to get away from our problems. Movies give us the opportunity for two hours to get out and get away and just let go."

On top of that, blistering heat in much of the nation sent people to the air-conditioned comfort of theaters, and the films were good enough to keep them going back for more.

This summer's films also have had staying power. In summer 1998, movies on average took in 27 percent of their total gross in the opening weekend, said Wayne Lewellen, distribution president for Paramount. This summer, that average was down to 24 percent, indicating films are lasting longer in theaters.

The year started slowly, with movie revenues last winter down compared to the previous year, when "Titanic" was sinking records at the box office.

But summer has more than made up for it, pushing ticket sales for the year up 6 percent over last year at this time.

The season started with a bang. "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" opened May 19 and became the fastest movie ever to gross $100 million, hitting that in five days. Now, the movie from 20th Century Fox has taken in about $420 million.

Two weeks before "Phantom Menace," audiences got a preseason warmup with Universal's "The Mummy," an unexpected horror smash. And over Memorial Day weekend, Universal slipped in "Notting Hill," the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant romance.

Bookending those movies around "Phantom Menace" paid off for Universal. "Mummy" kept going to gross $155 million and "Notting Hill" collected $115 million.

"'Star Wars' didn't scare us off," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "We knew we had two big hits."

Then things got crowded. Between "Phantom Menace" and current box-office champ "The Sixth Sense" came a rare period when a different movie opened atop the box office in each of nine straight weeks.

"It was so competitive that no matter how good you were, you got knocked out the next weekend by another movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks movie attendance.

"Phantom Menace" was followed by New Line's "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." The Mike Myers spy spoof has grossed about $205 million.

The string of high-grossing wonders also included "Tarzan," "Big Daddy," "Wild, Wild West," "The General's Daughter," and "Runaway Bride," Roberts' second comedy of the summer to top $100 million.

The usual late-summer doldrums, when movie attendance usually trails off, never materialized, largely because of "Sixth Sense" and the surprise hit "The Blair Witch Project."

The low-budget "Blair Witch" is on track to gross about $140 million. "Sixth Sense," about a boy who communicates with the dead, has been No. 1 the last four weekends and should finish well above $200 million.

The bawdy teen comedy "American Pie" also topped the box office in July and should pass $100 million this fall, making it the 12th summer film to hit that mark.

There's still a solid slate of films for fall and the holidays, and 1999 could break the full-year record of $6.95 billion set last year.

"Let the fall begin," said Fox's Sherak.

archive