GATE OF CONFUSION BOX OFFICE HAD TOPSY-TURVY SUMMER.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

It's been one wacky summer at the multiplex. An animated movie about a clown fish is box office king and Johnny Depp is a far more popular action star than Arnold's Terminator, Will Smith, Harrison Ford, the Hulk, all three of Charlie's Angels, and possibly even Keanu Reeves.

Add to that Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Freddy and Jason all having No. 1 opening weekends and Kevin Costner getting stellar reviews again and you have enough oddities to make for one of the strangest and unpredictable summers ever.

``The problem was that there seemed to be a perception by audiences that there were only a few films worthy of their attention, positive word of mouth and their repeat business,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. ``The films that received the audience's positive attention did really well, like `Finding Nemo,' `Bruce Almighty' and `Pirates of the Caribbean.'''

With nearly two dozen sequels, high-profile franchise pictures and star vehicles on tap, the major studios were looking to match 2002's record levels. As of Sunday, the box office haul of $3.5 billion was neck and neck with last year's record summer total of $3.8 billion, in part because tickets are more expensive this year. But attendance is down 3.5 percent compared with 2002.

``This summer, other than a handful of really great-performing films, most of the talk and press coverage was about audience disenchantment, too many sequels, and big second-weekend drop-off,'' Dergarabedian said.

This year, saturation marketing and opening in more than 3,000 theaters were not enough to overcome negative buzz as in years past when even a bad movie could open big before everyone realized it was a dog.

Dramatic second-weekend drops were far more common this summer, including ``Gigli'' (82 percent), ``From Justin to Kelly'' (77 percent) and ``The Hulk'' (70 percent). Most films drop about 50 percent or less during their sophomore weekend.

Immune from the audience's wrath this summer has been Disney, with a string of unlikely hits that have combined to make well over $700 million in box office grosses.

``Looking at four of our films back to back, it's the public word of mouth that can help you sell a movie,'' said Chuck Viane, Disney's president of distribution. ``That word of mouth isn't something you can buy. You have to have the product.''

The animated smash ``Nemo'' is by far the summer's highest-grossing film and is on its way to becoming one of the most popular movies of all time, while the swashbuckling ``Pirates'' is on track to surpass Warner Bros.' ``The Matrix: Reloaded'' as the second-highest-grossing film of the season.

The well-reviewed ``Freaky Friday'' has made $58.4 million during its first two weeks in theaters while ``Open Range'' got off to a solid start, taking in $14 million during its opening weekend to put director and star Costner back on the box office map.

``This is going to be the record summer for us - we've never been to this level,'' Viane said. ``It's remarkable because I think it's all been done with such a diversity of product. The originality of each and every one of those stories and the fact they were unlike the other movies of the summer, I think we stood out on that basis.''

Other major studios have endured their share of highs and lows.

Both Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures could lay claim to having several films open at No. 1 this summer, but those successes were tempered either by a film's lack of legs or being superstar vehicles that flopped coming out of the gate.

Universal had ``Bruce Almighty,'' ``The Hulk'' ``2 Fast 2 Furious'' and ``American Wedding'' bowing in the top spot this summer and has had solid and steady ticket sales with ``Seabiscuit.'' These results gave the studio its top summer ever as last week it surpassed its previous summer record of $665.9 million set in 2001.

Meanwhile, last summer's undisputed box office champ Sony had ``Charlie's Angels,'' ``Bad Boys II'' and ``S.W.A.T.'' begin their runs at No. 1. But major failures ``Gigli'' and ``Hollywood Homicide'' prevented the studio from getting on any kind of summer box office roll.

``We're disappointed in `(Hollywood) Homicide' and `Gigli' but obviously very happy with `Bad Boys' and `S.W.A.T.,'' said Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures. ```Charlie's Angels' is also heading toward $100 million domestically and $170 million internationally and is not getting the credit it deserves.''

Sony also managed another $100 million hit with Eddie Murphy's ``Daddy Day Care,'' which never hit No. 1 but was a steady performer through much of the summer.

Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox each scored with early season blockbuster sequels: ``The Matrix: Reloaded'' and ``X2: X-Men United.'' But Warner's ``Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' ($147.6 million so far) was not as successful as its most recent predecessor and the studio endured major bombs with ``The In-Laws'' ($20.4 million) and ``Alex & Emma'' ($14.2 million).

Fox went up against the opening weekend of ``Matrix'' with ``Down With Love'' and the romantic comedy barely registered with an overall gross of just $20.3 million. But Fox really bombed out with ``From Justin To Kelly,'' which earned a meager $4.9 million during its entire run.

While Paramount Pictures succeeded with the word-of-mouth hit ``The Italian Job,'' the studio could not be pleased that the crime caper outgrossed its major summer action release ``Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.'' The ``Croft'' sequel opened weakly and had taken in just under $60 million as of Sunday.

``It was a really tough summer for a lot of movies,'' Dergarabedian said. ``We saw many films just not live up to expectations.'

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist