'Cars' should rev up big $
Looking ahead to June, there is a good chance that the summer box office will continue to heat up.
"The jury is still out, but things look more encouraging," said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst with Janco Partners who follows movie theater chain Regal Entertainment (Research). "People are feeling better and the box office is up about 6 percent year-to-date."
Dennis McAlpine, an independent entertainment analyst, said that there are two sure-fire hits coming out in June: "Cars" and "Superman Returns."
"Cars," the latest animated movie from Pixar, which is now owned by its longtime partner Walt Disney (Research), comes out June 9. And "Superman Returns," the first movie about the Man of Steel in nearly twenty years, will be released June 30. ("Superman Returns and "Poseidon" were both produced by Warner Bros., which like CNNMoney.com, is owned by Time Warner (Research).)
Harrigan agrees that these two flicks should be hits. He said he finds it hard to imagine "Cars" generating anything less than $250 million in U.S. box office sales and adds that another Disney film for later in the summer, July's "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel should also pull in at least $250 million.
But Pandya thinks there could be some potential sleeper hits as well. He points out that June is heavy on comedies. Last summer, "Wedding Crashers" was a surprise smash, generating nearly $210 million in ticket sales
Pandya said he doubts any of this summer's comedies will approach that level of box office. But he said that "The Break-Up," which comes out June 2, could do well since people might be curious to watch stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughan, who are now dating, interact on the screen.
That formula worked last year with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," which starred Aniston's ex, Brad Pitt, and his current girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
Looking ahead to June, there is a good chance that the summer box office will continue to heat up.
"The jury is still out, but things look more encouraging," said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst with Janco Partners who follows movie theater chain Regal Entertainment (Research). "People are feeling better and the box office is up about 6 percent year-to-date."
Dennis McAlpine, an independent entertainment analyst, said that there are two sure-fire hits coming out in June: "Cars" and "Superman Returns."
"Cars," the latest animated movie from Pixar, which is now owned by its longtime partner Walt Disney (Research), comes out June 9. And "Superman Returns," the first movie about the Man of Steel in nearly twenty years, will be released June 30. ("Superman Returns and "Poseidon" were both produced by Warner Bros., which like CNNMoney.com, is owned by Time Warner (Research).)
Harrigan agrees that these two flicks should be hits. He said he finds it hard to imagine "Cars" generating anything less than $250 million in U.S. box office sales and adds that another Disney film for later in the summer, July's "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel should also pull in at least $250 million.
But Pandya thinks there could be some potential sleeper hits as well. He points out that June is heavy on comedies. Last summer, "Wedding Crashers" was a surprise smash, generating nearly $210 million in ticket sales
Pandya said he doubts any of this summer's comedies will approach that level of box office. But he said that "The Break-Up," which comes out June 2, could do well since people might be curious to watch stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughan, who are now dating, interact on the screen.
That formula worked last year with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," which starred Aniston's ex, Brad Pitt, and his current girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.