A COLD, HOT SUMMER FILMGOING DIPS, BUT REVENUE REACHES NEW HIGH.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer Despite the poorest Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. weekend grosses in four years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time summer movie season officially wrapped Monday with record revenue of $3.9 billion, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. box office figures released by Exhibitor Relations Co. Tuesday. During the movie industry's most lucrative four-month period of the year from May 1 through Labor Day, revenue was 2.2 percent higher than in the summer of 2003, with 11 films grossing $100 million or more each domestically including box office phenomena ``Shrek 2'' and ``Spider-Man 2,'' as well as surprise sensation ``Fahrenheit 9/11.'' That's the good news. What is troubling for the industry is that actual attendance at the nation's multiplexes was 1.5 percent lower this summer than last, a decline for the second consecutive year. In the end, the summer's admissions total of 633,137,323 did not match the 2003 total of 642,620,232. The all-time attendance record remains the 654,991,012 set in summer 2002 when ``Spider-Man'' and ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' ruled the charts. ``Despite the fact that attendance is down, it was a solid summer because, by and large, audiences were much happier with this summer's crop of films than last year's,'' said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Experts point to several reasons for the slight attendance decline, including the Summer Olympics, which dominated the television ratings Television ratings may refer to:
Every four years, ``the Olympics always throws a wrench wrench or spanner Tool, usually operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts. A wrench basically consists of a lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt or nut so that it can be twisted by a pull at right angles to the axes of the lever into the last half of the summer season,'' said Robert Bucksbaum, president of ReelSource Inc. Additionally, the studios, which seemed to have alienated al·ien·ate tr.v. al·ien·at·ed, al·ien·at·ing, al·ien·ates 1. To cause to become unfriendly or hostile; estrange: alienate a friend; alienate potential supporters by taking extreme positions. audiences last summer with a glut glut pronounced as rut, slut Vox populi An excess of a service or skilled labor in a particular area. See Physician glut. of mediocre sequels aimed at younger audiences, clearly courted the older moviegoer mov·ie·go·er n. One who goes to see movies. mov  ie·go ing adj. this summer with such adult-skewing films as ``The Manchurian Candidate,'' ``The Notebook'' and ``The Stepford Wives.'' ``If you were to plug more movies appealing to 14-year-olds into the mix, you would have gotten more attendance,'' Dergarabedian said. ``But I think a lot of goodwill was generated by bringing the older audiences back into the fold, giving them something to enjoy.'' The summer season's attendance figures and box office grosses were certainly not helped by the Labor Day weekend performance of the current movies in the marketplace. The top-12 movies ran a dismal 21.5 percent behind last year's dozen. The martial-arts drama ``Hero,'' released by Miramax Films, finished at No. 1 two weeks running with a four-day gross of $11.5 million. The film, which had spent two years sitting on the shelf, has earned an impressive $35.2 million to date. Paramount Pictures has a surprise late-summer hit in ``Without a Paddle An input device that moves the screen cursor in a back-and-forth motion. It has a dial and one or more buttons and is typically used in games to hit balls and steer objects. See joy stick. Paddle - A language for transformations leading from specification to program. ,'' a wilderness adventure comedy that finished in second place over the weekend. Over three weeks, ``Paddle'' has earned a solid $40.2 million. But a quartet of new titles - 20th Century Fox's ``Paparazzi pa·pa·raz·zo n. pl. pa·pa·raz·zi A freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers. ,'' MGM's ``Wicker Park,'' Focus Features' ``Vanity Fair,'' and Lions Gate's ``Cookout'' - could manage only to open in the $6 million-$7 million range, and all failed to crack the top three. ``Vanity,'' however, had the best per-screen average of any movie in the top 10 as it is playing in just over 1,000 theaters. ``This was a low water mark for Labor Day, definitely not a strong finish to the summer,'' Dergarabedian said. ``None of the newcomers were able to make a strong impression with audiences.'' The strongest holdovers in the top 10 over Labor Day weekend were Disney's ``The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,'' DreamWorks' ``Collateral'' and Universal's ``The Bourne Bourne, town (1990 pop. 16,064), Barnstable co., SE Mass., crossed by Cape Cod Canal; settled 1627, inc. 1884. Bourne Bridge (1935), across the canal, made the town an entry point to Cape Cod and a resort and commercial center. Supremacy.'' All have enjoyed excellent audience retention from week to week and have cumulative grosses of $85.3 million for ``Princess,'' $88.9 million for ``Collateral'' and $164.8 million for ``Bourne.'' Greg Hernandez, (818) 713-3758 greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): drawing, box Drawing/Box: SUMMER BlOCKBUSTERS Source: Exhibitor Relations Co. Jon Gerung/Staff Artist |
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