Robots & ogre power Paramount to Box Office lead
Peter David

LOS ANGELES—From menacing Spartan warriors to chipper singing chipmunks, 2007’s Box Office attractions spanned the gamut. Following a heated summer, there was a cooling-off spell during the fall, but the year still saw the domestic box office gross climb to a record $9.62 billion. As a result, when it came time for the major studios to carve up the pie, there were plenty of healthy slices to go around. For the first time ever, five studios crossed the $1 billion mark with their domestic tallies, led by Paramount Pictures with $1.49 billion.
The studio benefited mightily from its 2005 acquisition of DreamWorks, which contributed such early hits as “Norbit” ($95.3 million) and “Blades of Glory” ($118.2 million). Paramount got a $321 million shot of adrenaline by distributing DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek the Third.” By the Fourth of July weekend, the $319.1 million-grossing “Transformers,” a DreamWorks/Paramount co-production, assured the Melrose Avenue studio’s eventual victory. The only studio to boast two $300 million-plus grossers, Paramount claimed a market share of 15.5 percent, up from its fifth-ranked 2006 share of 10.4 percent.
Warner Bros., which dipped to an uncharacteristic fourth place in market share in 2006, bounced back to second thanks in part to “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” ($292 million), the second-best domestic grosser in the series. Additional fantasy in the form of “300” ($210.6 million) and “I Am Legend” ($206 million to date) fuelled the flames. For the year, the studio earned $1.42 billion with a 14.7 percent share, up from 11.6 percent in 2006.
Disney (No. 3, $1.36 billion) and 2006 champ Sony (No. 4, $1.24 billion) relied on the tried and true with respective threequels “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” ($309.4 million) and “Spider-Man 3” ($336.5 million), the year’s No. 1 movie. Both lost market share. Disney, which sharpened its focus on family-friendly fare, enjoyed a late hit with “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” ($143 million to date). Its market share fell to 14.1 percent from 16.1 percent in 2006, when it ranked No. 2.
Sony found a couple more $100 million grossers in “Ghost Rider” and “Superbad,” and the studio’s Screen Gems label delivered admirable returns from such movies as “Stomp the Yard” ($61 million) and “Resident Evil: Extinction” ($51 million). Its market share slid to 12.9 percent from 18.6 percent. Universal rose one place to No. 5 as its market share jumped to 11.4 percent from 8.7 percent.