Summer on the Screen

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Summer is still a few weeks away, but the summer movie invasion has begun! For the next three months, Hollywood will churn out hit after hit! (They’ll also release some real stinkers!) Already, Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third have opened to record audiences. Soon, another “threequel” will thrill fans. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the third movie in the Pirates  series. It opens this weekend.  

Could this be the biggest movie season ever? Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office research company Media by Numbers, thinks so.

“2007 is going to be a record year!” Paul told SN Online. He added, “May is probably going to be the biggest May of all time!”

But May is just the beginning. June brings the film Surf’s Up, about a cool surfer penguin named Cody. Also in June: Nancy Drew, about a famous girl detective, and Ratatouille, about a rat who wants to be a chef.  

In July, the fifth Harry Potter film (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) will open. So will the musical Hairspray, co-starring High School Musical’s Zac Efron. And in August, Underdog, about a super-hero pooch, flies onto the big screen.

Why does summertime bring out so many movies that so many people want to see? Paul told us, “School is out! People are on vacation.” Movie companies know that it’s the best time to fill movie theaters—and since most of these movies cost a lot of money to make, that’s important to their business. (Spider-Man, for example, cost more than $250 million!)

Of course, it’s not always good for your wallet. Movies can expensive—so choose the ones you really want to see. The rest will be waiting for you later on this year—when they come out on DVD!

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