'XXX' LEADS TREND OF HOT AUGUST FILMS.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

As the major movie studios begin planning their release slates for summer 2003, they are likely to pencil in more of their blockbuster releases during the wide-open month of August instead of putting all of their box office chips on dates bunched together during the early summer months.

Industry experts say they have at least two very good reasons: the $60.1 million opening for ``Signs,'' which bowed Aug. 2, and a $44.5 million debut last weekend for ``XXX.''

These films, which scored the second- and fourth-biggest August openings in history, proved August is fertile ground for movies that capture the public's attention. If they open big, they are also in the enviable position of having the rest of the month to add to their grosses without competition from any other ``tentpole'' releases, the major event films that studios build their release slates around.

``Maybe in July you can open to huge crowds but week after week you have some new event,'' said Jeff Blake, president of distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which released ``XXX.'' ``As you look ahead, there are less event movies than earlier in the summer.''

August has traditionally been something of a dumping ground for movies that have minimal expectations and little buzz with no movie ever having even a $30 million opening during the late summer month. That changed last summer when ``Rush Hour 2'' opened to a whopping $67.4 million and ``American Pie 2'' had a stunning $45 million debut. Now ``XXX'' and ``Signs'' have continued to provide August box office heat.

``Suddenly August is a real hot month,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. ``You can't call this the dog days of August anymore. Looking at performances of 'XXX' and 'Signs,' I think we are going to start seeing August becoming more crowded.''

But not this year. The rest of the month is lacking in blockbuster titles with the most promise held for ``Blue Crush,'' a female surfing film from Universal being released Friday. The other major release this week is Eddie Murphy's ``The Adventures of Pluto Nash,'' completed two years ago and held for release by Warner Bros. until now.

Blake said with the thinned-out competition, it will be easier to keep a film like ``XXX'' in the maximum amount of theaters without being pushed out to make room for the next series of blockbusters. If ``XXX'' spends the next several weeks atop the box office charts, it will accomplish a rare feat in a summer that has seen a new No. 1 movie virtually every weekend.

``If you can get the big opening in mid-August, you stay at or near the top for several weeks,'' Blake said. ``Last year, 'American Pie 2' stayed at No. 1 for three weeks. I would certainly say we can look forward to the same kind of performance.''

That was not the case during May, June and July. Even an all-time blockbuster like ``Spider-Man'' spent only two weeks as the No. 1 movie in the United States before it was dislodged from the top spot by ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.'' But ``Clones'' didn't reign any longer as it was pushed aside by ``The Sum Of All Fears'' after just two weeks.

And so it has gone week after week with such hits as ``Austin Powers in Goldmember,'' ``Men in Black II,'' ``Minority Report'' and ``Scooby-Doo'' all having brief one- or two-week reigns as No. 1.

``The August films have time to cultivate an audience and not come up every weekend against a huge tentpole film,'' Dergarabedian said. ``We are in the home stretch of the summer and these films opening now will play well in August and September.''