Pirates was no surprise, it should have busted out 500m+,

only in disney land.

It was going to be big but was larger then expected.

Biggest surprise to me was X-3 crossing $100 million over the 3-day, esp after MI3 did around 45% of that and The Da Vinci Code did around 75% of that.

i knew it could after i saw like half the school at Friday at the theater for x-men 3. However that film could have done so much more if it were good like X2.

Prada did well, but TN's put an ID on a growth segment..

MI:3 opening to 47 mil was probably the biggest surprise for me, I couldn't see why it opened so under expectations, that number just came out of nowhere like Kong's Wednesday or The Island. Prada is close behind it.

Poseidon, Miami and Snakes I could kind of see, not months before, but when it came up to the release date, there wasn't much question in my mind.

Isn't it obvious? People really hate Tom Cruise now. That's why it disappointed.

Last summer was mile ahead of this one. Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 40 year Old Virgin, and even Wedding Crashers and War of the Worlds were all better than pretty much anything this summer. So I mean, 2005 handily beats down this year in quality--I'm not even sure how anyone could make the argument otherwise. It didn't make as much, but really, is box-office tracking really that fun when a sequel to a colossal movie makes a colossal amount of cash. Pirates made a shitload of money, but that was because of the first one. I'm not saying it's not an impressive total, but it's more of a feather in the cap of the franchise than any testament to this year. Pirates is 2003's phenomenon.

Next summer is going to be the same thing. Spider-Man, Pirates and Shrek all make 300 million. Maybe Harry Potter. Good for them, and I hope they enjoy the movie, but it doesn't feel exciting when you have three threequels, and nothing else on the horizon that looks promising. That kind of fucking sucks.

So yeah, this was a boring summer. It might have been slightly interesting if Pirates beat Titanic, but I don't know, it really doesn't feel like a breath of fresh air from that standpoint.

It's not a good time to be a box-office watcher, and to think so is to think a steroids outbreak is a good time to be a sports fan.

Thinking about it now, 2006 kind of... sucks. It's been a bit dull so far, and then we have one of the worst winters in a while coming up on us, there's no Potter, Narnia, Kong, instead we get Eragon, Night at the Museum, Happy Feet, Casino Royale, and Charlotte's Web which is the one semi-bright spot, but still nowhere near the 3 above.

Bring on bloody 2007 already.

The DESCENT: BEST Movie of the Summer..

Yeah its been a snooze fest compared to other years. December looks dismal. Thankfully we have a number of "quality" type films in October/November that will tide us over till 07.

Surprises- DVC making 750 WW and about 70% of that coming overseas.
Step Up opening to 20 mill and closing with about 60.
Little Man still making 50 mill after being truly one of the most horrible films of all time
Poseiden tanking as bad as it did.
MI3 openign so softly.
Prada of course.
Pirates making 400 mill...I truly didn't think it would happen..plus becoming only the third film all time to make a bill...totally caught me by surprise.
The Descent being as good as it was..quality wise, shocked me. One of the best horror films of quite sometime.
Snakes on a Plane being one of the most fun films I have ever seen.
Little Miss Sunshine being the best film of the year so far.

Here's a summer wrap article from THR:

http://hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/f ... 1003087023

you know what the third biggest surprise success of the summer is? (behind Prada and Little Miss Sunshine)

Barnyard

Its legs are just beyond me, it'll finish with $75 million or so and a multiplier of 4.7.

The biggest positive surprise is obviously The Devil Wears Prada.

I'm not sure on the biggest negative one...Miami Vice or Snakes on a Plane, maybe.

I was surprised by the lack of..of big movies worth their budget, for lack of a better term. I was expecting to see at least two more fanbase-type movies, the kind that justify a bloated budget. Instead, all we got was Pirates. The rest of them were big, but they were non-tentpole movies that had no business being so expensive, like Poseidan and Miami Vice. No wonder the teenage boys were reduced to hyping Snakes on a Plane. There was nothing else to get worked up over.

The other surprise for me, I think, was the quality of the Talladega Night trailer. I'm convinced it was the trailer that brought it in over $100M, not Will Farrell.