SONY'S BILLION-DOLLAR YEAR HITS SEND STUDIO INTO STRATOSPHERE.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

CULVER CITY -- ``Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby'' did a lot more than give star Will Ferrell the biggest opening weekend of his career. This NASCAR parody has propelled Sony Pictures Entertainment to its fifth straight year of reaching $1 billion in domestic grosses.

This is extremely rarified air. Warner Bros., which has struggled this summer, is the only other studio to have accomplished the $1 billion milestone in five consecutive years.

Sony is also poised to surpass Disney this week to take over as the No. 1 studio in terms of market share for 2006, a feat accomplished largely by releasing a steady stream of midlevel hits throughout the first seven months of the year.

``Consistency is always something that I think any studio strives for,'' Sony Vice Chairman Jeff Blake said Tuesday. ``There are three studios circling $1 billion and because of `Talladega Nights,' we've kind of put our nose out in front here.''

Sony has been neck-and-neck with Disney and 20th Century Fox this summer but ``Talladega'' has put the wind behind the studio's back as it heads into the remaining four weekends of summer. ``Talladega'' added $7 million to its total on Monday, indicating it will continue to play strong during the week.

Of the 14 films Sony has released so far this year, nine have had opening weekends of $20 million or more, while eight of the movies have debuted in first place. ``Basic Instinct 2'' is one of the few Sony releases to completely nose-dive at the box office in 2006.

``Sony is one of the few studios that releases a lot of product, and that's why they are able to be at the top and near the top of market share year in and year out,'' said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo. ``This year, they have been fairly consistent with a number of movies opening at $20 million or more. Some end up being big hits while others, like `Monster House,' are just in-between.''

The studio's biggest hit so far this year has been the religious thriller ``The Da Vinci Code,'' which succeeded in riding the controversy surrounding it to a domestic gross of $216.8 million to date.

In addition to ``Talladega'' and ``Da Vinci,'' Sony's summer has also included the hit comedy ``Click,'' which has taken in $134.4 million and further solidified star Adam Sandler's status as a box office sure-thing when headlining a comedy.

``It's a good mix of films,'' Blake said of the summer slate. ``We had two strong comedies with Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell and an adult blockbuster,'' Blake said. ``There was some real variety.''

The studio also successfully revived a dormant franchise with Steve Martin in ``The Pink Panther,'' a February release that had a solid run ($82.2 million). But Sony's real strength has been such midlevel performers as ``RV,'' a family comedy starring Robin Williams that has played for 13 weeks so far and earned $70.8 million.

```RV' is a great example of a movie critics wouldn't even give a second thought to, but audiences kept coming out to see that movie,'' said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. ``It just kept playing.''

Other midlevel hits have included: ``Monster House'' ($57 million), ``Little Man'' ($55 million), ``Underworld: Evolution'' ($68.3 million), ``When a Stranger Calls'' ($47.9 million) and ``Silent Hill'' ($46.9 million).

``Sony focuses on very distinct genre fare: horror films, youth comedies, family movies and tent poles like `Da Vinci Code,''' said Gray. ``2005 was not a good year for them, and they are rebounding from that.''

After a stellar 2004, Sony struggled last year, especially in the summer when it released the megabombs ``Stealth'' and ``XXX: State of the Union.'' In addition, ``Bewitched,'' its comedy starring Nicole Kidman and Ferrell, also underperformed.

But Sony still managed to reach $1 billion in domestic grosses in 2005 on the strength of such $100 million-plus grossers as ``Hitch'' and ``Fun With Dick and Jane'' and several midlevel hits.

The studio had its biggest year in 2002 -- thanks largely to the $400 million-plus earned by ``Spider-Man'' -- when it took in $1.57 billion in domestic grosses overall.

Blake hopes to surpass that studio best and is bullish about the rest of Sony's 2006 slate. The lineup includes the new James Bond film, ``Casino Royale,'' which features Daniel Craig taking over the part played by Pierce Brosnan in the four most recent Bond films.

The studio will also release its first in-house animated film ``Open Season,'' another comedy starring Ferrell (``Stranger than Fiction,'' the sequel ``Grudge 2'' and a Will Smith romantic comedy ``The Pursuit of Happiness.''

``I think we've had a really good mix and a great mix coming the rest of the year,'' Blake said.

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) no caption (movies)

Box:

Sony's super season

SOURCE: BoxOfficeGuru.com