Hollywood Deep

“Rush Hour 3″ Trailer. The movie releases August 10th

The biggest summer movie season ever could also become the longest. Traditionally Summer Movies blockbuster releases started on Memorial Day Weekend, hit a climax on the 4th of July, and petered out by the end of July. The biggest blockbusters of the summer would then take over the month of August and ride out the box office until Labor Day Weekend. By August, in past years, the studios would not be releasing any films that it had high hopes for being big earners. That has been slowly changing in recent years, the Summer Blockbuster release window has grown longer and longer. In 2007, Hollywood now releases top flicks all summer long.

“The beginning of August is not the dumping ground,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which earned $70 million last weekend on “The Bourne Ultimatum.” “These are the dog days of summer, and movie going is spectacular at this time of year.”
August 2007 began with a bang thanks to “Bourne,” and shows no signs of slowing down at the cinemas. “Rush Hour 3″ opens this weekend, with expectations of earning “Bourne”-like money, and the week after that sees the release of buzzed-about-comedy “Superbad” and sci-fi thriller “The Invasion.” The new trend is now, Hollywood studios begin releasing their tentpole flicks in early May and don’t stop until late August.

“What everybody has tried to do is extend the summer as far as we can,” said Jeff Blake, Sony Pictures‘ chairman of global marketing and distribution. “There’s nothing really magical about starting the first week of May but that’s become one of the bookends.” Especially for Sony, which kicked off 2007’s summer with “Spider-Man 3″ on May 4.

“We’ve succeeded in getting summer started,” Blake said. “Now the idea is how far can we keep it rolling through August. And so far, so good. Certainly ‘Rush Hour’ looks good Aug. 10, and we certainly feel good with where we are with ‘Superbad’ on Aug. 17.”

Jeff Bock, who tracks box-office results for Exhibitor Relations Co., said: “We haven’t seen an August like this. This summer definitely has three waves, whereas most summers have two waves.”
Look for the list of most popular August releases to change drastically in the next few years, as studios try to grow the summer earning season.

MOST POPULAR AUGUST RELEASES

“THE SIXTH SENSE” $294 million Aug. 6, 1999
“SIGNS” $228 million Aug. 2, 2002
“RUSH HOUR 2″ $226 million Aug. 3, 2001
“THE FUGITIVE” $184 million Aug. 6, 1993
“TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY” $148 million Aug. 4, 2006

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