Summer 2007 box office update

I know that this is the blog post that many of you skip right over, and that's fine with me. But never let it be said that you didn't know where to go if someone were to ask you (say, in a life-or-death situation) which of 2007's threequels made the most money. I can just see it now: there you are, hanging by your fingertips from the top of a 40-story building, while a maniacal moviebuff is lifting your remaining digits from the ledge, one-by-one, until you answer the life-saving box office-related question...then wouldn't you feel silly for skipping this post? So keep reading; the people on the sidewalk below you will appreciate your attention.

Since August's final full weekend occurred last weekend, the traditional summer movie season is now officially over. Though many of the movies are still in release and still earning, it's interesting to look at the standings for the summer (and year) so far to see what audiences responded to and what they didn't. Here's the top 10 for 2007 so far (from Box Office Mojo):

1. Spider-man 3 ($336 million)
2. Shrek the Third ($321 million)
3. Transformers ($308 million)
4. Pirates 3 ($308 million)
5. Harry Potter 5 ($284 million)
6. 300 ($211 million)
7. Ratatouille ($199 million)
8. The Bourne Ultimatum ($187 million)
9. The Simpsons Movie ($174 million)
10. Wild Hogs ($168 million)

(For those of you who really care, click here to see the full 2007 chart so far.)

Looking at the top 10, it's interesting to see both Ocean's 13 and Rush Hour 3 absent. And it's just a tiny bit surprising to me that Transformers has overtaken Pirates (though after having watched them both, I can't blame audiences for liking Transformers slightly more...). The top 10, however, does mask some of the summer's other box office surprises, such as the unexpected success of Knocked Up and Hairspray, or the relative failure of such high-profile releases as Evan Almighty and Hostel: Part Two.

Now of course, to really appreciate this information, you'd have to know how much money each of these movies cost to make--I'm certain that the above list is not ranked by profitability--as well as consider how long each of the movies has been in theaters. (Bourne, for example, has only been in theaters for about four weeks, and clearly has some life left in it; I'd guess that it will probably overtake 300 before too long.) And while this list is interesting to rank 2007 movies in relation to each other, where they fall on the "all-time" charts is increasingly irrelevant, given the constant inflation of ticket-prices.

It would be more interesting (to me, anyway) for analysts to start judging a movie's popularity based on number of tickets sold (not price) or on a movie's ability to maintain an audience over a longer period of time (rather than by the misleadingly front-loaded earnings of summertime "event" movies). But most so-called box office analysts (guided by the studios' marketing rhetoric) are only looking for a headline when describing weekend grosses (e.g. Spider-man 3 breaks all box office records!), rather than reporting how well audiences are really responding to a new movie.

Anyway, it's fun to think about, and one thing's for sure: these movies are making more money than I ever will. So think about that the next time you're plummeting to your death...