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By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Finally, a hot summer at the movies. After three years of declining sales, the box office has surged ahead of last year, thanks to a blistering season.
Oh, and a guy in a pirate costume. It's hard to overestimate the effect of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, analysts and studio execs say. The Johnny Depp adventure has seized $358.5 million in U.S. ticket sales so far, and helped propel overall summer ticket sales above $2.84 billion, 6% ahead of last year.

And though it's unlikely Pirates will eclipse Titanic's record of $600 million at the box office, it should sail past $400 million, making it one of the five biggest movies ever.

"A movie like that becomes bigger than itself," says Rory Bruer, distribution chief for Sony Pictures. Competing studios reported that moviegoers who could not get into sold-out Pirates theaters bought tickets for their films.

Despite the box-office rebound, there were still duds. Horror movies scared up pittances. Little films stayed small. And some costly pictures promised more than they could deliver.

"This summer has proven that less can be more," says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru .com. "Movies that market themselves everywhere can turn audiences off. People want movies to speak for themselves."

Here, USA TODAY offers a summer box-office report card:

Animation draws families
Grade: A

Parents and theater owners have been calling for more family-friendly movies for years, and Hollywood finally delivered in the form of cartoons. No fewer than a dozen are scheduled for this year.

And most are paying off, if not with the dividends of a Finding Nemo or Shrek 2. Take a look at the top 10 movies of 2006, and three are animated features. Cars has been the third-biggest film of summer and the year, raking in $234.8 million. And Monster House shocked industry execs by handily beating Lady in the Water in their opening weekends with $23 million.

Despite their often juvenile themes, animated movies are resonating at the box office with adults because they're not "parent punishers," says Don Harris, a vice president with Paramount.

"The really big movies draw families," he says. "And animation works because it's delivering on two levels: visually for the kids and story-wise with humor that works for adults."

Frat pack guys go it alone
Grade: A-

Breaking up is hard to do, unless you're getting rich doing it.

After teaming up in such hit comedies as Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the frat pack, which includes Jack Black, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, are striking out on their own and striking gold.

Vaughn helped power The Break-Up to $117 million, a blockbuster few analysts saw coming. Wilson lent his voice to the lead in Cars, and Black powered Nacho Libre to $79 million, more than double its production cost.

The pack "has an easygoing-ness that works," says Nikki Rocco of Universal, which distributed Break-Up. "In interviews, on talk shows, there's an everyday, normal-guy accessibility that people relate to."

Superheroes defend the box office
Grade: B+

Tired of superheroes and those comic-book adaptations? Too bad, because you're going to be seeing a lot more of them.

The genre remains one of Hollywood's most bankable. X-Men: The Last Stand enjoyed a whopping $103 million debut and went on to $233 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year.

Although Superman Returns held the top spot for only one weekend, it still has mustered $185.8 million domestically and $291 million worldwide. The only real blemish has been My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which opened to a disappointing $8.6 million.

"We need to stop calling them superhero or comic-book movies," X-Men producer Avi Arad says. "These are movies like any other movie, whether they're action, or romance or comedy. They just make more money."

Disinterest sinks water themes
Grade: B

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, audiences beached some of the most-anticipated underwater films. Not counting those Pirates of the Caribbean, of course.

Poseidon, the remake of the 1972 classic, sank fast with only $60 million. M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water is treading even more treacherous waters, opening to a measly $18 million and taking in $32.2 million so far. Poseidon, analysts say, overestimated the public appetite for disaster films, and Lady miscalculated its hunger for big-screen fairy tales. Lady "is playing well on the coasts but weaker in the Midwest and South," says Dan Fellman of Warner Bros., which distributed both movies. "We're hoping Night's fans still turn out."

The only life raft for the category, of course, is Pirates, which set a record with a $135 million debut and made the seagoing life "a cultural phenomenon we never expected," says Chad Hartigan, a box-office analyst with the industry tracking firm Reelsource. "I don't think anyone could have predicted pirate chic."

Book adaptations jump off the page
Grade: B

They're never quite as good as the books, but Hollywood's adaptations of popular novels don't have to be to rake in the dough.

The Da Vinci Code entered the year considered a contender for biggest film of 2006 but stands at No. 4 so far. Still, $216 million isn't bad for fourth place. And The Devil Wears Prada was supposed to be a minor chick-flick hit, but it has crossed the $100 million mark.

"With some of these big books, all you need to do is get the readers into theaters to have success," says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. "You want more than that, of course. But that's a strong starting point."

Not all readers are moviegoers, though. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior was a smash self-help book, but the film adaptation has taken in only $925,000.

Star vehicles lose their luster
Grade: C

In the early 1900s, theaters put sandwich boards with images of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in front of their doors to lure moviegoers to their new films. Titles, directors and concepts were beside the point.

Those days are long gone. Even stars such as Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler need a good marketing campaign, and sometimes even that's not enough. Cruise's $150 million Mission: Impossible III did a middling $133 million in the USA. Sandler had a little more luck with Click, which did $132 million with an $85 million budget. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock mustered $51 million with The Lake House, a respectable if unspectacular haul.

"Special effects and big names are only going to go so far with today's audiences," says Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo. "If a picture doesn't have the story to go along with it, people will find out pretty quickly. They're getting harder to impress."

Grown-ups feel left out
Grade: B-

Spring offered so much promise for adults. Spike Lee's mature heist film Inside Man did a surprising $88.5 million, powered by audiences 35 and older.

But by summer, teens and children had taken over. A Prairie Home Companion, which starred Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan, garnered solid reviews but did a so-so $19.2 million. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth became the fourth-highest-grossing documentary with $19 million, but some thought it would become the next March of the Penguins.

"There's not a lot out there this time of year for adults who want something without explosions and special effects," says Bob Berney, head of Picturehouse, which released Companion. "When you don't have the big budgets, it can be pretty tough to be heard in all the tent-pole movies."

Horror can't scare up much interest
Grade: D

If grown-ups thought the pickings were slim, fans of horror must have found their options even bleaker. Once a profitable staple of summer, horror is getting thrashed.

Despite heavy marketing campaigns on the Internet and teen cable TV networks, horror movies such as An American Haunting and See No Evil failed to bring in even $20 million.

Russell Schwartz, president of domestic marketing for New Line Cinema, says the reason is simple: too much of a "gotcha" thing.

"The market has been over-saturated," he says. "Kids get sick of things fast, and they are tired of mildly violent horror movies. They're moving on.

Little movies that couldn't
Grade: F

Where is our My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Our March of the Penguins? Movies that open slowly in spring and blossom into hits by summer? This season has been The Little Movies that Couldn't.

Akeelah and the Bee had all the makings of the feel-good sleeper hit of the year, but it stalled at $18.8 million. American Dreamz seemed to have the right blend of political satire and American Idol parody to be a hit but managed only $7 million. The Guy Pearce Western The Proposition won rave reviews and a cult audience but took in a meager $1.7 million.

Analysts are stymied but hopeful for an underdog win. "I'm not sure why we haven't had that small, word-of-mouth hit," says Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru. "We seem to have one every summer. But maybe there's still time. It's been a good summer for most other things."