2006 BOX OFFICE GOLD SUPERHEROES, SEQUELS HELP MOVIES MAKE A BIG RETURN.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

The big-screen returns of Captain Jack Sparrow, Superman, Wolverine, James Bond and, yes, Rocky Balboa, all contributed mightily to Hollywood's comeback year at the box office.

By year's end, revenue is expected to reach $9.3 billion -- short of 2004's record $9.4 billion but comfortably ahead of last year's dismal numbers that led to widespread speculation over whether the movie business had permanently lost its way.

But a successful Christmas weekend that included strong debuts for the comedy ``Night at the Museum'' and the musical ``Dreamgirls'' was representative of a year in which moviegoers seemed far more satisfied with their choices.

``It's a product-driven business so I never paid attention to all that talk last year,'' said 20th Century Fox distribution head Bruce Snyder, whose studio released ``Museum'' as well as such 2006 hits as ``X-Men: The Last Stand'' and ``Ice Age: The Meltdown.'' ``The sky was never falling. If the product is strong, the better we do.''

Last year's domestic box office total of $8.9 billion marked the first time since 2001 that overall grosses fell below $9 billion and included a rather dubious record: 19 consecutive weekends of grosses that fell below the totals of the same weekend a year earlier.

As of Tuesday, revenue stood at $9 billion and is expected to end the year 4 percent ahead of 2005 in revenue and about 2.5 percent ahead in actual attendance, according to the box office tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC.

``We'll end the year in a strong position,'' said Media By Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian. ``The three-day weekend was up 10 percent over last year and Christmas Day was very strong.''

``Museum,'' released by Fox, marked another big opening for star Ben Stiller, who scored on the same weekend two years ago with a $48.1 million debut for ``Meet the Fockers.'' Four-day numbers for ``Museum'' reached $43.2 million.

``A museum coming to life at night was such an easy concept to grasp but I think Ben Stiller has something to do with it,'' Snyder said of the film's performance. ``We got everyone into theaters: families, nonfamily, older, younger.''

``Museum'' pulled Sony's ``Pursuit of Happyness'' down to second place but the Will Smith movie still did solid four-day business by grossing $23.1 million. In 11 days, the film has sold $61.4 million in tickets.

Sylvester Stallone and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer both had a comeback over Christmas weekend with ``Rocky Balboa,'' the sixth movie in a franchise thought to be dead released by a studio also thought to be dead.

But MGM began quietly releasing acquired movies earlier this year with ``Balboa'' being its first major production and release under new management. ``Balboa,'' which had a production budget of just $24 million, grossed $17.3 million over the four-day weekend. Since its release last Wednesday, it has taken in $26.7 million.

``MGM is really pleased with the `Rocky' performance, especially since the production budget on the film is very low,'' said studio spokesman Paul Pflug. ``The last `Rocky' was in 1990 so this is a nice way for Stallone and for MGM to wrap up the franchise.''

The Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks production ``Dreamgirls'' made a major smash on Christmas Day with an $8.7 million debut. That was good enough to land in seventh place for the weekend despite only one day in wide release and bookings into just 852 theaters. Adding in money earned from extremely limited releases in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco the past two weeks, ``Dreamgirls'' has earned $9.55 million to date.

``I think it will hang in there for awhile,'' Dergarabedian said. ``It's an absolute crowd pleaser and has Oscar written all over it.''

But the film that contributed more to Hollywood's comeback year was Disney's ``Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,'' which became the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time with an astonishing $423.2 million in ticket sales domestically. Along the way, ``Pirates'' broke many records including the holy grail, biggest opening weekend of all time: $135 million.

Only four other 2006 releases passed the $200 million mark (``Cars,'' ``X-Men,'' ``The Da Vinci Code'' and ``Superman Returns'') and no films finished in the $300 million range.

But in addition to ``Cars,'' three other animated films had healthy runs, with the ``Ice Age'' sequel finishing at $195.3 million, Warner Bros.' ``Happy Feet'' at $160.5 million and still going in wide release, and DreamWorks Animation's ``Over the Hedge'' making a solid $155 million.

Whether the return of James Bond would be successful had been a question mark with a new actor, Daniel Craig, taking over the role from the popular Pierce Brosnan, who had headlined four Bond movies -- all major hits.

But Craig in ``Casino Royale'' was met with very strong reviews and the movie has pulled in a respectable $145 million to date domestically and should add several more millions to its tally before it plays out.

Adding to the action movies and animated hits were a number of successful comedies including the Will Ferrell laugher ``Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby'' ($148.2 million), the Adam Sandler comedy ``Click'' ($137.3 million), the outlandish ``Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'' ($124.2 million) and the surprise hit ``The Devil Wears Prada'' ($124.7 million).

``The secret to the comeback was simple: better movies. It was also marketing combined with films that could back up the hype,'' said Dergarabedian. ``Even in the last couple of weeks, the films have had pretty strong holdover audiences indicating viewer satisfaction and great word of mouth.''

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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Source: Media By Numbers