Summer movie report card

Despite several big- budget flops, bottom line gets an A. See how your favorite film did.

See other trends that made the grade — or not

Summer 2013 will go down as one of those rare movie seasons where the whole added up to more than the sum of its parts.

Almost every bankable movie genre offered a resounding flop, with the exception of raunchy humor.

Still, the industry is looking at a record $ 4.7 billion in ticket sales, according to projections from Hollywood. com.

“You’d have to give the overall summer an A,” says Hollywood. com’s Paul Dergarabedian. “There’s no arguing with the bottom line.”

The sales indicate that “things are definitely working for studios, but no one seems to know what those things are,” says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “We had probably a halfdozen more bombs this summer than any summer on record. But we’re still going to hit a record ( in revenues). It’s pretty amazing.”

Sequels and superheroes still dominate, but Bock attributes the summer’s success to “the underachievers that were bigger than anyone thought they’d be.”

Those little-engines- that- could, Bock says, had an advantage over their $ 150 million- budget counterparts: “Those movies weren’t getting hyped on Facebook and Twitter like the tent- pole movies. That’s why the ( bigbudget) failures were so high- profile. They built up expectations they couldn’t meet.”

That was particularly true of original movies, which are flailing. A USA TODAY/ Gannett analysis of summer films found that sequels and franchise spinoffs accounted for 70% of ticket sales. A decade ago, original stories made up 65% of revenue.

“Here’s the one thing I can guarantee will happen from this summer,” Dergarabedian says. “Studios are going to go back and try to put numbers behind every movie they make. Sequels will be bigger than ever.”

Ribald comedy including ($ 156 million) and cheap horror flicks such as The Purge ($ 65 million) could have a bright future for sequels.

But analysts caution against betting on any trend. “I’m not sure what we take from this summer,” Dergarabedian says. “Other than we just had one wild roller- coaster ride.”

20TH CENTURY FOX UNIVERSAL PICTURES

UNIVERSAL PICTURES Sequels claim As much as moviegoers stories, a hunger for fresh sequels have never been Fast & Furious 6 hotter. ( ensurearned $ 239 million Star and ing another sequel), overcame Trek Into Darkness collect a shaky start to $ 227 million. The...

GEMMA LA MANA, 20TH CENTURY FOX The Heat’s Sandra Bullock, left, and Melissa McCarthy didn’t sit down on their boxoffice job. Raunch have dwinThough comedies of ticket sales — dled to just 12% their contribution less than half — R- rated comea decade ago of the indusdies remain...