Hollywood’s sleepy summer falls short of 1999 record

Monday, Sept. 4, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

Hollywood's summer fell well short of the record $3 billion that movies raked in a year ago. There were solid successes and one unexpected blockbuster, "Scary Movie," but nothing on the order of last year's string of hits and the surprise horror sensations "The Sixth Sense" and "The Blair Witch Project."

Without such sleeper hits, Hollywood's summer was just that - a sleeper.

"It was a mediocre summer in general," said Mark Urman, co-president of Lions Gate Films. "It seemed a little tepid. It took some time for the hits to come, and they were predictable hits."

Between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, movies will have grossed an estimated $2.75 billion, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks the box office. The industry traditionally takes in about 40 percent of its annual revenue during that period.

That's the second-best summer ever in terms of actual revenue. The downside is that cinema-ticket prices undoubtedly have risen over last year, meaning movie attendance could be down 10 to 15 percent this summer, said Paul Dergarabedian, Exhibitor Relations president.

"We're down this summer, but you're not going to break records every year. That is unreasonable to assume," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which released "Sixth Sense."

It was simply a weaker movie lineup compared to last year's, when "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" primed movie-goers just before Memorial Day. The hit parade in summer 1999 continued with "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Big Daddy" and Julia Roberts' "Notting Hill" and "Runaway Bride."

Then "Blair Witch" and "Sixth Sense" topped things off during the normally quiet late summer weeks, accounting for 10 percent of the season's total business.

"Those were just cultural phenomena happening a year ago that people were talking about," Dergarabedian said. "This year, we're talking about 'Survivor.' That hurts the movie industry, because people stayed home to watch that. The public just didn't get pumped up about movies like last year."

For the year, a strong pre-summer slate including "Gladiator," "Dinosaur" and "Erin Brockovich" has kept Hollywood a fraction ahead of the box office in 1999, when movies grossed about $7.5 billion.

This summer, "Mission: Impossible 2" was the biggest hit, topping $200 million. "The Perfect Storm" has hit $175 million, "X-men" and "Scary Movie" climbed to $150 million and "What Lies Beneath" reached $130 million.

Also topping $100 million include "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps," "Big Momma's House," "Chicken Run" and "The Patriot." Other top-grossing flicks include "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Space Cowboys," "Me, Myself & Irene" and "Road Trip."

The box-office decline comes at a tough time for theater owners burdened with debt from a building binge of new cinemas. Two theater chains, Carmike and Edwards, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, and there are industry rumblings that others could follow.

With unions for screen writers and actors talking tough about contracts expiring next spring, the industry also faces the possibility of a dual strike that could shut down production. Studios have sped up production to keep the pipeline filled with new movies next year in case of walkouts.

For the short haul, though, signs are positive for the movie lineup through the holidays into next summer. The "Silence of the Lambs" sequel "Hannibal" arrives early next year, and the summer 2001 lineup includes the war epic "Pearl Harbor," Steven Spielberg's "A.I.," Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" and the video-game adventure "Tomb Raider."

Big films this fall include "Charlie's Angels," "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "102 Dalmatians," and what looks to be a strong stream of movies with such stars as Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey, Will Smith and Bruce Willis, who re-teams with "Sixth Sense" creator M. Night Shyamalan for "Unbreakable."

The industry has a "monumental Thanksgiving and Christmas coming," Viane said.