The summer movie season officially began Thursday night with the bumped-up debut of Iron Man, yet another in a long line of comic-book-based blockbusters in the making.
Anything short of $70 million at the box office this weekend may be considered a disappointment.
But this summer has a tough act to follow — last summer.
More than $4.1 billion was grossed (financially speaking) between May and Labor Day in 2007, the first summer ever to eclipse the mark. It did so on the shoulders of four movies that made more than $300 mill each, sequels all — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers.
Can an aging Indiana Jones, Matrix-ized Speed Racer, dim-witted Maxwell Smart, …. or returns to Narnia and Gotham City possibly come close?
Who knows?
For this unapologetic moviegoer, it’s not about how much money a movie makes, it’s about whether the movie is any good. Whether this summer’s batch of big-budget blockbusters satisfy remains to be seen…..
–The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince of Caspian (May 16): It’s been three years since the first installment of C.S. Lewis’ spiritual fantasy “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” introduced movie audiences to the three Pevensie kids. Now it’s 1,300 years later (one year in our time), and they help the titular young heir who rebels against his evil uncle.