STUDIOS BASK IN THE AFTERGLOW SONY PICTURES LEADS WAY IN AMAZING $9 BILLION YEAR.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind ``Spider-Man'' and a string of other blockbusters in 2002, led the way during a record box-office year in which attendance was the highest in several decades and domestic receipts topped $9 billion for the first time.

A record seven films surpassed the $200 million mark, while a record- tying 22 reached $100 million, resulting in long lines at the megaplex most weekends.

``Exhibition got their act together and cleaned up their theaters, and the studios delivered a record-breaking year,'' said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures. ``There's nothing anyone can complain about.''

Joining Sony in surpassing the $1 billion mark in box-office grosses, three other major studios - Disney, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox - also enjoyed a solid year, while 2002 was a lackluster one for Paramount and MGM.

Sony passed $1 billion way back in August after ``Spider-Man'' grossed an astounding $403.7 million domestically. That was followed by $100 million-plus summer blockbusters ``Men In Black II,'' ``Mr. Deeds'' and ``XXX.''

``We had those big-event films that captured everyone's imaginations, but we also had all kinds of films to make up a varied slate,'' said Jeff Blake, Sony's president of distribution. ``You always hope for a great year, and I think $1 billion is a good benchmark.'' Topping that by more than $500 million was ``beyond our wildest dreams,'' he added.

The year was sprinkled with other Sony releases opening at number one, including the military action-drama ``Black Hawk Down,'' the surprise spring hit ``Panic Room'' and the year-end romantic comedy ``Maid in Manhattan.'' The studio had surpassed the $1.5 billion mark by year's end, far ahead of its closest competitor.

Disney finished a solid second in a year that was led by the stellar performance of ``Signs,'' which grossed $227.4 million in the summer and was the fourth-highest-grossing movie of 2002. Other $100 million-plus hits for Disney were the animated smash ``Lilo & Stitch,'' ``The Santa Clause 2'' and ``Sweet Home Alabama.''

``You look at Sony, and they had such an unbelievable year, but we were consistent, and we are real happy about that,'' said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution. ``This is the seventh in the last nine years that we crossed the $1 billion mark.''

Disney weathered the disastrous performance of its holiday animated release ``Treasure Planet,'' which was one of the biggest, most-expensive flops in the studio's history. Helping to cushion the blow somewhat were solid hits ``Snow Dogs'' and ``The Rookie,'' which took in $81.1 millionand $75.6 million, respectively.

``If you look at everything in balance, there were some real nice surprises, and then there was 'Treasure Planet,' which was a surprise of the negative kind,'' Viane said.

Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox were in a showdown for third place, with several box-office trackers putting Warner slightly ahead.

Warner Bros. boosted its grosses past $1 billion on the strength of the performance of its November release ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' which remains in the top 10 and has grossed $240.3 million to date. Warner also scored big - $153.3 million gross - with its summer hit ``Scooby-Doo.''

``Any time you can finish past the $1 billion mark, it's a great feat,'' said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.' president of distribution. ``Warner has done that now two years in a row and three out of the last four years, which certainly shows our consistency in the domestic marketplace.''

Warner Bros. could have held a clear-cut claim to third place had it not released some of the year's biggest box-office bombs, including ``The Adventures of Pluto Nash.'' But inexpensive midsize hits, including ``The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'' and ``A Walk to Remember,'' contributed nicely to the studio's bottom line.

Fox's ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' took in the second-highest gross of the year - behind ``Spider-Man'' - and its $302.2 million was a huge boost, even though the movie was the first in the long-running ``Star Wars'' franchise not to finish as the top-grossing film of the year in which it reached theaters.

``The bar is set so high that it's almost impossible to meet expectations, but at the end of the day, $300 million is $300 million,'' said Bruce Snyder, Fox's head of distribution. ``It's a huge number.''

Fox also had $100 million-plus hits with the animated smash ``Ice Age'' and the Tom Cruise action-thriller ``Minority Report,'' but its high-profile bombs included ``Solaris,'' starring George Clooney.

Universal Pictures experienced a drop from second place in 2001 to fifth. Its two biggest hits of '02 were the Matt Damon action picture ``The Bourne Identity,'' which earned a healthy $121.6 million, and Eminem's feature debut, ``8 Mile,'' which surprised the industry with a $51.2 million opening weekend and a cumulative gross of $114.1 million to date.

The studio's next-best performers released in 2002 were solid hits - ``Red Dragon'' at $93 million and ``The Scorpion King'' at $90.4 million - but didn't have quite enough steam to cross the $100 million barrier.

``It wasn't a record-breaker, but I believe this was a great year for Universal,'' said Rocco. ``As a major, we had the fewest number of films released, and when you look at the profitability, we were consistent.''

The biggest black mark for Universal was the abysmal performance of ``The Truth About Charlie,'' which was a major box-office flop with a domestic gross of $5.3 million.

Sixth-place New Line Cinema came on strong at the end of the year with spectacular grosses for ``The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,'' which raced past the $200 million mark in its first 12 days of release. Its summer blockbuster ``Austin Powers in Goldmember'' earned a whopping $213.3 million. Other solid hits included ``Blade II'' and Denzel Washington's ``John Q,'' but the studio also released box-office clunkers such as ``All About the Benjamins'' and ``Knockaround Guys.''

``There are some disappointments but, overall, we've had the biggest year in our history,'' said David Tuckerman, New Line's president of domestic distribution.

For seventh-place Paramount Pictures, the Ben Affleck action picture ``The Sum of All Fears,'' grossing $118.9 million, and the modest hits ``We Were Soldiers'' at $78.1 million, ``Changing Lanes'' at $66.8 million and ``Jackass: The Movie,'' $63.9 million, were the high points in a year with expensive major flops, such as ``Star Trek: Nemesis'' and ``K-19: The Widowmaker.''

With only seven releases, eighth-place mini-major DreamWorks was lifted by the unexpected box-office smash ``The Ring,'' which benefited from terrific word of mouth to gross more than $125 million this fall. Its Dec. 25 release ``Catch Me If You Can'' is off to a $48.6 million start in its first five days, and ``Road to Perdition'' had a solid run of $104.4 million.

The studio didn't have any expensive bombs, with the animated ``Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' taking in $73.3 million and with ``The Tuxedo'' and ``The Time Machine'' bringing in more than $50 million apiece.

``It's been a very good year for us on a per-picture basis,'' said Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks. ``We have the time to market and distribute the movies to maximize their potential.''

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer once again has James Bond to thanks for salvaging what could have been a catastrophic year at the box office. ``Die Another Day'' has earned $148.8 million, remains in the top 10 and is the highest-grossing movie in the long-running Bond franchise.

The year had been a bleak one for MGM with a trio of expensive failures: ``Windtalkers,'' ``Hart's War'' and ``Rollerball.'' While Bond is expected to end that losing streak, it was actually the sleeper hit ``Barbershop'' that stemmed the tide as it debuted at number one and went on to gross a solid $75.6 million.

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Jon Gerung/Staff Artist