HOLLYWOOD HUNGRY FOR HITS TICKET SALES FALLING AFTER BOFFO MAY, JUNE.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

In mid-July, the movie industry was striding with confidence toward setting an all-time summer record for box office grosses. But a month later, the question is not how much will last summer's record of $2.96 billion be eclipsed by but whether it will be broken at all.

The traditional summer season begins with Memorial Day weekend and ends on Labor Day. In mid-July, the industry was 13 percent ahead of 2001 in terms of revenue and 9.4 percent ahead in attendance.

But after four weekends in a row of declining attendance, a once-commanding lead has dwindled to a mere 4 percent in grosses and a half-percent in attendance as of last Sunday. Industry experts say that some new hits are desperately needed for a new record to be set.

``Four weeks is a small moment in time but if we see this happening the next few weeks, we may not see a summer season we thought it would be,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

The once unthinkable has happened despite a string of hit movies that has included ``Spider-Man,'' ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,'' ``Men in Black II'' and ``Austin Powers in Goldmember.''

The difference from 2001 is that there were several sleeper hits that carried the record through the August home stretch, including ``The Princess Diaries,'' ``The Fast and the Furious'' and ``The Others,'' all of which either crossed the $100 million mark or got close to it.

``There was just more depth to the market,'' according to Dergarabedian.

While the August films ``Signs'' and ``XXX'' had stellar openings of $60 million and $44.5 million, respectively, they have also carried a majority of the box office on their backs.

``Goldmember'' and ``Men in Black II'' had huge openings in July but have not sustained heavy business in subsequent weeks. The sequels ``Stuart Little 2'' and ``Spy Kids 2: The City of Lost Dreams'' have performed below expectations and star vehicles for Harrison Ford (``K-19: The Widowmaker) and Clint Eastwood (``Blood Work'') have flopped. Also performing abysmally were the family films ``The Country Bears'' and ``The Powerpuff Girls Movie.''

This has slowed the box office momentum down tremendously.

While expectations are minimal for the Eddie Murphy comedy ``Adventures of Pluto Nash,'' which opened Friday, there is some buzz that the female surfing film ``Blue Crush'' could draw solid numbers this weekend as it unspools on more than 3,000 screens.

Robert Bucksbaum, president of Reel Source Inc, a box office analysis firm, said the major studios need to spread out their potential blockbusters throughout the year because of a feast-or-famine scenario that ends up playing out at the megaplex each year.

``All these movies are bunched into these small slots of eight weeks during summer and the holidays, and the rest of the marketplace is suffering,'' he said.

The major studio rosters for the rest of the month include the horror-thriller ``Feardotcom,'' the comedy ``Serving Sara'' starring Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley, the prison boxing drama ``Undisputed'' with Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames, and the Al Pacino film ``Simone.''

``Theaters owners have to stay open 365 days a year,'' Bucksbaum said. ``I think studios really need to look at their schedule. In September, there's nothing and in October, nothing except a few here and there but not enough to keep a multiplex going.''

While it would seem that monster grosses for ``Spider-Man'' ($403.6 million to date) and ``Star Wars'' ($299 million to date) would guarantee a summer record, both films opened in early to mid-May, before the official start of the summer season.

``Spider-Man'' had opened on May 3 to an all-time opening weekend record of $114.8 million, and less than two weeks later the latest ``Star Wars'' film grossed $80 million during its first weekend.

If those and other grosses for the entire month of May were figured in, business is ahead by 12 percent in revenue and 8.5 percent in attendance, according to Exhibitor Relations.