US-Boxoffice: Das Sommerfazit

It's not even Labor Day weekend yet, but 2009 has already become the highest-grossing summer ever at the domestic box office.

Through Sunday, summer B.O. revs were $4.17 billion, compared to $4.16 billion for summer 2007, the previous record holder for best summer sesh.

The Labor Day weekend should add another $100 million or more to the total tally, meaning the summer would be up at least 3% in grosses over 2007.

Three tentpoles lead the pack of top domestic performers: Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($399.4 million), Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($294.3 million) and Disney/Pixar's "Up" ($289.6 million).

Pics performing significantly better than expected include Warners' comedy "The Hangover," which has run up $270.2 million in domestic ticket sales, by far the best gross for an R-rated comedy. Pic places No. 4 on the top 10 summer chart.

Auds were also in love with Disney's Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy "The Proposal," which earned $160.2 million to become the highest-grossing summer romantic comedy of all time. Film is No. 9 on the summer domestic roster.

Several franchises got an infusion of fresh blood: Paramount's "Star Trek" grossed $256.7 million to come in fifth for the season, while Twentieth Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" grossed $179 million to rank No. 7.

Fox also took spots No. 6 and No. 8 with "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" ($193.3 million) and "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" ($176.5 million).

Sony's sequel "Angels and Demons" rounds out the top 10 list at $133.4 million, although Paramount's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" will likely overtake "Angels."

"G.I. Joe's" domestic cume through Sunday was $132.2 million after grossing $7.7 million for the weekend, its fourth sesh.

Quelle: Variety

Auch wenn heute noch einmal ein verdammt heißer Tag war, steht der Herbst vor der Tür und in den USA wurde das Fazit für den Kinosommer gezogen und es fällt, wie man dem Variety-Artikel entnehmen kann, mehr als positiv aus, konnte man doch das Rekordergebnis aus dem Jahr 2007 knacken. Neben den ganzen erfolgreichen Franchisefortsetzungen, die ihren Teil beigetragen haben, sind es vor allem die kleineren Filme wie The Hangover oder The Proposal, die positiv zum $ 4,17 Mrd.-Ergebnis beigetragen haben. Und wie war noch einmal das Wort mit W am Anfang und Krise am Ende? Nun startet in den USA jedenfalls die Oscarsaison und neben jenen potentiellen Anwärtern werden auch viele Bankdrücker ins Kino geschickt, die vorher nicht den Hauch einer Chance gehabt hätten, bevor das Winter- und Weihnachtsgeschäft mit großen Blockbuster fortgeführt wird.