May Madness: Hollywood Planting Summer 2008 Tentpoles

Looking at the recent opening weekends for Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third, it's no wonder that the studios are already claiming release-date territory in May 2008. The Hollywood Reporter gives a run down of the big-budget films that are currently jockeying for their day-and-date release in early summer: Paramount's Iron Man (May 2); Fox's The Day Earth Stood Still (May 9); Warner Bros'. Speed Racer (also May 9); Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16); Paramount's fourth Indiana Jones installment (May 22); and Fox's Starship Dave (May 30). And May 2009 is already starting to fill up with both James Cameron's Avatar (Fox) eyeing that month as well as Paramount's Monsters vs. Aliens.

I had always thought that May first became prime real estate back in 1996 when WB's Twister opened with to a then-mighty $41 million. But the Reporter suggests that the month rose to global prominence with Uni's The Mummy in 1999. That was when overseas markets first started to really pay off and air-conditioned multi-plexes began to proliferate. Regardless, the power of May is obviously here to stay. The crowded blockbluster landscape might make one think that each new film would limit the previous one's box office. And that's certainly true to some extent. But this summer, which will see a darker Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hit theaters this weekend and perhaps set another new B.O. record, it seems like there's still plenty of room for everyone to make money.