Coming to a theater near you: summer of hits, industry hopes

LAS VEGAS — Soothsayers were big in the ancient Greek era depicted in the blockbuster "300," and Hollywood hopes that flick portends one of the biggest years in modern times for the movie business.

Theater owners attending ShoWest, a national convention in Las Vegas held last week, said they're looking ahead to a summer with an unprecedented lineup of potential box-office smashes.

"I've been in the business 50 years. I think it looks like the best product year I can ever remember since the days of 'Titanic,' " said Marvin Troutman, president of central Pennsylvania's Cinema Centers Inc.

Troutman spoke while strolling past a line of movie posters promoting such summer blockbusters in waiting as "Shrek the Third," "Spider-Man 3" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Last year at this time, theater owners groused that Hollywood had let them down in 2005 with a string of boring movies. The industry rebounded with a solid though unremarkable year in 2006.

Now, cinema operators are buzzing with the early success of last weekend's "300," which opened with a record March debut of $70.9 million.

Hollywood executives promise the industry is offering a range of films this summer that captures all audiences, young and old, not just the teen moviegoers whom studios target with many of their summer popcorn flicks.

"Last weekend, I went to the movies, and it was sold out. I was trying to see 'The Last King of Scotland.' Then I tried to see 'Amazing Grace.' Sold out," said Dan Glickman, who heads the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's key trade group. "Most people would have been upset. I was thrilled."

Major summer releases include "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Ratatouille," the latest cartoon comedy from Pixar animation. Also planned: Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker's "Rush Hour 3," the sci-fi adventure "Transformers," George Clooney's latest heist romp "Ocean's Thirteen," Adam Sandler's comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," the superhero sequel "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," Steve Carell's "Bruce Almighty" follow-up "Evan Almighty," the animated penguin story "Surf's Up," Matt Damon's new spy caper "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Simpsons Movie," a big-screen adventure for TV's favorite cartoon family.

Might the overload of movies cut into one another's business?

"Not if they're good movies," said Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the "Pirates" trilogy, whose second chapter was last year's biggest hit. "When you have a down year and people didn't come, it's not because they don't like movies. It's because the movies we put out there didn't engage them. Not that they were bad movies. It's just audiences didn't respond. Hopefully, this summer we can prove them all wrong."

In 2006, domestic revenues were just under $9.5 billion, with about 1.45 billion tickets sold. That was up solidly from 2005, when admissions plunged and some critics predicted doom for movie houses because of home-theater systems and other newer entertainment options.

Admissions in 2006 were on par with the industry average over the last decade, though far below Hollywood's golden age of the 1930s and '40s, when estimates put ticket sales as high as 4 billion a year before television began eroding movie audiences.

Hollywood's revenue record of $9.53 billion came in 2004, while the best year in modern times for admissions came in 2002, with 1.6 billion tickets sold.

With such a heavy-hitting 2007 lineup, some think those modern revenue and admissions records could fall this year.

"You never know until people start buying tickets for the big pictures, but we've never seen a slate like this before," said John Fithian, who heads the National Association of Theatre Owners. "So we have guarded confidence that it's going to be a huge year. We'll see when they come to the theaters."