Summer movie sizzlers and stinkers
By Kendis Gibson
CNN Headline News
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One of this summer's box office winners, 'Finding Nemo.'
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(CNN) -- The summer movie season is traditionally when movie studios have some of their biggest financial successes. With that in mind, it's when the most expensive, most explosive and highly anticipated films are released.
But as this summer indicates, just because the studios spend more money and time on a movie, doesn't mean audiences will spend their money and invest their time in seeing it.
Winners
In this summer of sequels, only a few could be considered winners. Among them is "X2: X-Men United." Its release kicked off the season, and the movie quickly stormed to $215 million in grosses.
"The Matrix Reloaded" had a huge opening week when it debuted in mid-May. It remains the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever. As far as worldwide figures go, it is the biggest overall winner, earning more than $719 million at the box office.
But in the United States, the big winner came as a surprise to many movie watchers. "Finding Nemo" found itself at the top of the box office during numerous weekends this summer. The fish tale not only outswam "Matrix," but passed "The Lion King" as the biggest animated feature of all time.
Losers
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in a scene from 'Gigli.'
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It would be easy to say nothing more about "Gigli," but who can resist? The Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez movie made about $3.8 million in its opening weekend. One comedian joked that the reason was because Jen and Ben both bought $1.9 million worth of tickets each.
Critics say, "Gigli" made the previous leading candidate for the worst movie of the year -- "From Justin to Kelly" -- look like an Oscar winner. Guarini (Justin) and Clarkson (Kelly), the "American Idol" finalists, sang and danced for a painful 90 minutes. Despite the increasing popularity of the TV show, many of those TV viewers were smart enough to avoid the movie.
"Hollywood Homicide" is one of those films that had a lot of built-in buzz about it. It starred one of the most bankable stars of all time, Harrison Ford, and his heir apparent at the movies, Josh Hartnett. But many moviegoers couldn't tell if the movie was a comedy, crime drama or mystery. One thing is for sure: it was a bomb. The movie was the first film Ford signed on to before even seeing the script. Hartnett signed on because Ford was on board for the project. Both may want to revert to their old ways of deciding on materials.
The summer proved to have one enduring trend. Unlike many previous summers, audiences this time around really wanted movies with a plot. That helped those among the list of winners, as well as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Italian Job," work magic at theaters, while highly touted story-challenged movies like "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" bombed.
