Summer 2009 Breaks Record for Highest Gross

(September 6, 2009) SHERMAN OAKS, CALIFORNIA — The summer movie season officially closes today, Labor Day, and it’s the highest-grossing summer on record.

- Summer 2009’s total gross stands at over $4.2 billion through Sept. 3, the highest ever. It was the third summer in a row to exceed $4 billion.

- Due to when Labor Day landed this year, Summer 2009 did have an extra week over 2008, but it still grossed more in the same amount of time.

- In terms of estimated attendance, however, Summer 2009 was no record breaker. Summer 2002 is still tops on this front, followed by 1999, 2003, 2004, 2007, 1998 and 2001.

- While no movie was as monumental as ‘The Dark Knight’ from last year, ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is on the verge of hitting $400 million and ranks as the ninth highest-grossing picture of all time.

- The ‘Transformers’ sequel and many other movies were in line with reasonable expectations, but the breakout success of Summer 2009 was ‘The Hangover.’ With $270.7 million and counting, the ribald comedy became the highest-grossing picture of its sub-genre and has nearly matched the final tally of ‘There’s Something About Mary’ adjusted for ticket price inflation. The ‘Star Trek’ re-launch also excelled by becoming the top picture of its franchise, adjusted for ticket price inflation.

- The comedy genre ran the gamut from the successes of ‘The Hangover’ and ‘The Proposal’ to the season’s bigger failures: ‘Land of the Lost,’ ‘Year One,’ ‘Bruno’ and ‘Funny People.’ The industry had high hopes based on these movies’ high profile release dates, but many may have been blinded by the big name talent involved: each picture was fundamentally flawed in terms of audience appeal, mining material that has disappointed time and again in the past.

The Top-Grossing Movies of Summer 2009 (as of Sept. 3)

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor) / Total Gross in Millions

1. ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (Paramount) / $399.6

2. ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ (Warner Bros.) / $295.1

3. ‘Up’ (Disney) / $289.9

4. ‘The Hangover’ (Warner Bros.) / $270.7

5. ‘Star Trek’ (Paramount) / $256.8

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)

BOX OFFICE MOJO, founded by Brandon Gray in 1999, is published daily at http://www.boxofficemojo.com. The online publication features the most comprehensive, accurate and thoughtful box office analysis and tracking available.

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The 10 Commandments in the Worlds of STAR TREK

A humorous article by Paul Asay on Beliefnet.com about some of the Bible themes that can be found in the Star Trek universe despite Gene Roddenberry’s religious views or lack thereof:

(EXCERPT) When Gene Roddenberry created “Star Trek,” he pictured a future dominated by science and human ingenuity–without a lot of religion to muddy things up. Oh, sure, Federation crew members met scads of religious sentient beings around the galaxy, but it turns out most were worshipping computers, power generators, or toga-wearing aliens. Roddenberry didn’t place a lot of faith in faith.

“Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all,” Roddenberry once said. “For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.”

So why does “Star Trek” seem to have such a yen for the Ten Commandments?

In giddy anticipation for the new “Star Trek” movie, here are 10 examples of how God’s prime directives have found their way into the “Star Trek” franchise.

Now, even though I’m not a fan AT ALL of the click-on-ten-pages-to-read-ten-witty-points theology, (drives me nuts) I invite you to click on over to Beliefnet.com and read the FULL ARTICLE

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