Attack Of The Summer Sequels!

In the spring of 2005, the U.S. faced the biggest box-office slump of all time, with a record length of 20 weeks in a row with ticket sales lower than the previous year. 2006 proved to be a comeback for the film industry, bolstered by sequels to ?Ice Age,? ?X-Men,? and ?Pirates of the Caribbean.?

And now, with a summer slate of no less than a dozen sequels and six other films based on established properties, 2007 looks set to set the record books on fire with movies featuring characters and storylines which are already familiar to the movie-going public.

Beginning on May 4th, when your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swings back into theaters, the barrage of sequels will be relentless.

photo: Columbia Pictures

?After Spidey’s first two weeks of May alone… there is a HUGE new sequel almost every weekend this summer,? says Access Hollywood Supervising Producer Adam Jordan. ?It could be the biggest May ever — and the biggest summer. 2007 is the summer of familiarity at the multiplex. Just the comfort of knowing… and then being excited about the product should make this the biggest and highest grossing summer in Hollywood history.”

And that is no exaggeration. In May alone, audiences will be treated to three other sequels from familiar franchises, such as ?Shrek the Third,? ?Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End,? and ?28 Weeks Later,? the follow up to 2003?s horror hit ?28 Days Later.?

photo: Disney

June and July continue the trend, with openings for ?Hostel: Part II,? ?Ocean?s Thirteen,? ?Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? and ?Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.? ?Evan Almighty,? a sequel to ?Bruce Almighty,? hits theaters as well, along with the long-awaited fourth installment of the ?Die Hard? films, ?Live Free or Die Hard.?

?The Bourne Ultimatum? and ?Rush Hour 3? wrap up the sequel onslaught in August.

Movie studios gravitate toward producing sequels as a way to capitalize on characters and situations that have already proven likeable to viewers. The risk for a studio is lessened when there is already a built-in audience for them to rely on.

photo: Twentieth Century Fox

Sometimes sequels serve another purpose for both filmmakers and viewers ? it can provide an opportunity to take beloved characters in a new direction, or even ?fix? what was seen as a misstep in a previous film. And then, of course, there?s the ?if it ain?t broke, don?t fix it? philosophy, which has been a real issue with sequels in the past.

For example, upon the release of ?Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,? Steven Spielberg famously apologized to fans for the preceding film in the series, ?The Temple of Doom,? which he (and most critics) considered to be an ?inferior? film to the original. It had been darker, scarier, and too much of a departure from the original. ?The Last Crusade? was designed (in part) to get back to the formula that made Indiana Jones so popular in the first place: a biblical quest, a swashbuckling (and humorous) adventure, and some good old-fashioned fights with Nazis. The return to form worked, as the film proved more popular with critics, fans, and at the box office. The Indiana Jones example is relevant this summer, as ?Ocean?s Thirteen? brings the characters back to Las Vegas – the city in which they performed their first heist in ?Ocean?s Eleven,? after the ?Ocean?s Twelve? European location and disjointed storylines were greeted with a lukewarm reception by critics and fans.

photo: Warner Bros.

It?s not only sequels that studios are banking on, though, as at least six new theatrical adaptations of established properties are coming this summer. While these films may be new experiences on the big screen, past incarnations have made them highly accessible to a public who is already familiar and comfortable with the content.

?Nancy Drew? kicks things off in June, with Emma Roberts (niece of Julia) taking on the title role of the teen detective who has proven popular in over 175 books, a 1970?s TV show, and a run of films in the 1930?s.

July sees the release of ?Hairspray,? which, like 2005?s ?The Producers,? is a musical remake of an older film that was adapted into a hit Broadway show.

photo: New Line Cinema

Popular toy lines get the theatrical treatment, with Michael Bay?s ?Transformers? coming in July and a Paula Abdul-produced movie based on ?Bratz? arriving in August. ?Transformers? and ?Bratz? have received animated movie treatments in the past, but these new releases will be primarily live-action. The same is true for ?Underdog,? based on the popular classic cartoon of the same name.

Finally, the longest-running sitcom of all time is coming to the big screen, with ?The Simpsons Movie? opening in July. The film, like the TV show, will be entirely animated, and voiced by the same team of actors who have inhabited the characters for nearly 20 years.

photo: Twentieth Century Fox

With such a vast amount of films based on tried and true hits of the past, it seems to be a no-brainer that the movie business will be booming this summer. However, there is potential for a backlash of sorts. With four ?part twos,? six ?part threes,? one ?part four? and even a ?part five? in the offering, will audiences continue to shell out money week after week for the next ?big thing,? or will they get fatigued from the onslaught of films that potentially have a ?been there, done that? feel to them?

And what does this mean for summer movies that don?t have the luxury of being sequels or re-imaginings of familiar concepts? There?s the chance that they could be ignored by a public, which is unwilling to take chances on unknown properties. ?The Nanny Diaries? (starring Scarlett Johansson) is defending itself from this potential pitfall by getting its release date pushed back from April to September 7th. Executive producer Harvey Weinstein explains the date change to Variety, stating that, among other things, he didn?t want the film to get lost in a ?summer glut? of sequels in various franchises.

As far as summer movie projections go, Jordan cuts to the chase: “This is a summer where you want a number at the end of your film’s title!”

Check out our photo gallery of the hot summer films !

FILM — RELEASE DATE

Spider-Man 3– May 4

28 Weeks Later — May 11

Shrek the Third — May 18

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End– May 25

Hostel: Part II — June 8

Ocean?s Thirteen — June 8

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — June 15

Nancy Drew — June 15

Evan Almighty — June 22

Live Free or Die Hard — June 27

Transformers — July 4

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — July 13

Hairspray — July 20

The Simpsons Movie — July 27

The Bourne Ultimatum — August 3

Underdog — August 3

Rush Hour 3 — August 10

Bratz: The Movie — August 10