Hollywood needs hits from "Superman," "Pirates"

LOS ANGELES, June 24: One saves the world and the other robs it, but what Superman and pirate Captain Jack Sparrow share this summer is Hollywood's hope they will rescue it from the brink of a two-year losing streak at US box offices.

Hollywood's summer season, which makes up as much as 40 per cent of the roughly 9 billion dollars annual domestic box office, hits its mid-point next week with the June 28 release of Warner Bros.

''Superman Returns.'' Disney's ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' hits movie screens on July 7.

Each is an effects-filled adventure costing over 200 million dollars, and each is the kind of movie that could rake in hundreds of millions of dollars at box offices.

But to do so, each needs a long run in theatres and that means delighting fans with a good story -- again, something Hollywood has not done well in recent summers.

''If we want the (box office) numbers to come out better than last year's performance, we need to be kicked into high gear,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co Inc ''It's a close race, and there is more pressure than ever for these movies to perform.'' To date, summer ticket revenues are 1.37 billion dollar, up a scant 1 per cent from last year but down 8 per cent from 2004.

Hollywood has not had two straight down summers in revenues since 1995 and 1996, according to Exhibitor Relations.

Attendance, or the number of people in theatres, is two per cent lower than 2005, 14 per cent under 2004, and another dip this year would mark the fourth straight down year.

HOLLYWOOD'S CREATIVE SLUMP?

Opening ahead of ''Superman'' and ''Pirates,'' was Adam Sandler in Sony Pictures' comedy ''Click'' which hit theatres yesterday. It typifies what is fast becoming a two-year creative slump in big-budget summer films tied to a lack of original ideas and too many sequels.

''Click'' tells of a father who glimpses his future only to see he neglected his family. Even Sandler admits ''there are similarities'' to movies like classic ''It's a Wonderful Life.'' At rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates reviews, ''Click'' earned only 14 ''fresh'' scores out of a total 54, as yesterday.

Other star-driven movies like Sony's ''The DaVinci Code,'' Twentieth Century Fox's ''X-Men: The Last Stand,'' Universal's ''The Break-Up'' and Paramount's ''Nacho Libre,'' earned mixed comments, at best, from critics, despite solid ticket sales.

Studio executives have long argued that young men, who make up the core audience for big-budget and star-driven summer movies, pay more attention to studio marketing than to reviews.

But the question is whether two years of many bad summer movies is causing audiences to turn toward other entertainment.

Fortunately for Hollywood, early reviews give ''Superman Returns'' a thumbs up. Time Magazine's Richard Corliss calls it ''beyond super. It's superb.'' He credits ''a beguiling subtext'' injected into a ''crowd-pleasing story.'' At 200 million dollars-plus, it represents a big risk to Warner Bros., but the studio is trying to revive a franchise that died nearly 20 years ago. ''It deserves a budget and it deserves the scope we are bringing to it,'' said director Bryan Singer.

Reviews are not yet available for ''Pirates,'' but other movies are getting good reactions in early screenings including comedies ''The Devil Wears Prada'' and ''You, Me and Dupree.'' Hollywood also has high hopes for cop thriller ''Miami Vice,'' mystery ''Lady in the Water,'' comedy ''Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,'' and thriller ''Snakes on a Plane.'' Individually, Hollywood's major studios are owned or controlled by conglomerates Time Warner Inc , The Walt Disney Co , Sony Corp , News Corp , General Electric Co and Viacom Inc .

REUTERS