Hollywood on a high

This summer proved exceptionally good for Hollywood with an earning of US $ 4 billion, an increase of eight percent over the summer of '04 when the collections reached approximately $ 3.95 billion, reported box-office tracker Media by Number. By the first weekend of May, the amount had touched $ 4.15 billion.

Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, reacted to the report: "Everyone should be very happy with the result. The movie industry is alive and kicking, in comparison to what was being said a few years ago." Bruer was especially happy with his company's performance since "Spider Man 3" started off making a record-breaking $ 151.1 million in its very first week. After that the big Sony release "Superbad" hit the screens. Till the Media by Number report got released, the film had become a $ 100 million baby for the company.

The total tickets sold this summer touched 606 million, up three per cent from last year. However, the season still ranks sixth in the queue of the best years for Hollywood in recent times. As far as box-office collection is concerned, 2002 is at the top with a sale of 653.4 million tickets. This year, the major films that raked in the moolah were Sony's "Spider Man 3", Dream Work's "Shrek 3" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End".

Chris Aronson, senior vice-president of distribution for 20th Century Fox, described Hollywood's success this season as "a tribute to the fact that we as a collective group paid attention to the audience and made sure that what we brought out was satisfying". At the end of the day, it's a healthy business as long as the quality of the movies is maintained, he summed up.

-Arindam Guha (SAMPURN)

Follow Us On News