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Smaller Films & Pirates May Save Hollywood’s Summer Bottom Line
Movie Investments in smaller Independent Film Market and the current state of the Hollywood Box Office.
(Bloomberg) - Hollywood studios are looking to "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' and smaller films to stay ahead of last year's summer box-office slump.
Walt Disney Co.'s "Pirates'' which opened July 7, and potential sleeper hits such as "Snakes on a Plane'' have become more important after Warner Bros. "Superman Returns'' failed to meet analysts' average forecast of $100 million or more in sales for its five-day debut.
This season got a boost from smaller films that turned into hits, including "The Break-Up'' from Universal Pictures with sales of $110.2 million, and Paramount Pictures, "Nacho Libre'' with $65.3 million, Dergarabedian said.
MGM is using the Internet to promote "Clerks II,'' a small comedy aimed at young men, Sands said. The film, scheduled for release on July 21, is a sequel to the 1994 film about 20-something slackers.
Summer sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters rose about 2 percent through June 25 after taking an 8.5 percent plunge a year ago, thanks to higher ticket prices and blockbusters like "X-Men: The Last Stand'' and "The Da Vinci Code.'' A strong opening for "Pirates'' will set the tone for the second half of the May-to- September season.
"We are off to a good start,'' Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said in an interview. "What will really be the telling tale is if we can continue that momentum.''
Audiences who are drawn to the theater by one movie tend to keep coming back, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box- office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Still on tap are Warner's "Lady in the Water,'' from director M. Night Shyamalan, and the Will Ferrell comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,'' from Sony Corp.
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