The Rocket

Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: MCT Campus In the film "Superbad," Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) talk to Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) about his fake ID in which his name reads "McLovin." [Click to enlarge]

This summer, the silver screen was lit up with battles involving spiders, robots, pirates, wizards, babies, teen angst and yellow cartoon families.

When it was all said and done, records were broken, trilogies ended, stars were born and franchises continued their dominance. The summer of 2007 was a heck of a ride.

Many franchises added installments to their already lucrative series. Some found more success and fanfare than others, but most of them banked big bucks. "Spider-Man 3," with its weak use of Venom and over-the-top dance sequences, might have been a disappointment to many fans, but the film still managed to bring the highest-grossing opening weekend back into the web-slinger's grasp.

Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow, Jason Bourne and Detectives Carter and Lee all supplied big-screen efforts this summer, with Bourne and those kooky pirates giving their final bows.

While most fell under a considerable amount of negative criticism, "The Bourne Ultimatum" seemed to stand alone in the critics' eyes as being one of the best films of the summer and definitely the best franchise film of the season.

While other franchises were ending, others might have found their triumphant starts this summer.

Fans showed their love and support for one iconic, yellow poster family for dysfunction, "The Simpsons," with a $74 million opening effort. The popularity of "The Simpsons Movie" showed that the characters still have legs, and if you stayed after the credits, Maggie pulled out the pacifier to utter the word "sequel."

Also providing a strong case for a franchise was the ultra-fun, special effects orgy, "Transformers."

The effects were absolutely amazing and with the super-charming, superstar-in-the-making Shia LaBeouf ("Even Stevens") leading a cast that included John Turturro ("Mr. Deeds"), Jon Voight ("Anaconda") and Josh Duhamel ("Las Vegas") there is plenty of talent and characters to continue the Autobots' story.

While there were very few surprises from the effects-laden blockbusters, most of the summer's movie surprises came in the realm of comedy and mostly at the hands of Judd Apatow and his army of writing geniuses-the likes of the freaky and geeky Seth Rogan ("Knocked Up").

The Apatow camp has freshened up the comedy scene in the past few years, bringing the funny in films like "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

This summer, Apatow served up two emotionally charged fun factories in the unexpected pregnancy flick "Knocked Up" and the next high school-party classic "Superbad." Both films were hilarious and charming and managed to grab a considerable fan base.

The best thing that can be taken away from this summer in movies is that more people than ever are going to the theaters. Almost every week this summer came with a new big release and a big opening weekend.

Overall, the movie industry saw its biggest numbers since 2004, surpassing the $4 billion mark.

And with promising releases on tap for the upcoming fall and winter seasons, this trend could continue for a long time. This is good news for the movie studios whose numbers have declined in the past couple summers.

Could they have finally figured out what the public truly wants in their motion picture experience or was this summer just a fluke?

I am banking on the latter, and the only evidence I need is "Daddy Day Camp."

Ivan Moore is a senior communication major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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