Funny thing what three billion-dollar babies can do.
After a dire winter when the box office teetered more than 20 percent into the red, the movie business is hitting a high note midway through the summer.
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" each have hit $1 billion in worldwide box office, a record-setting sign of what happens when tentpoles work.
The domestic market is up about 3.3 percent over 2010 from the period starting in early May -- the beginning of the summer season -- through the end of July, according to Hollywood.com. For the year, the U.S. and Canadian box office is still off 5.7 percent -- but hey, that's a heck of a lot better than where it was in March.
Also read: Why America Doesn't Count at the Box Office Anymore
The big story of the summer box office, of course, has been the explosive power of the foreign market. But not all is rosy; there are lessons to be learned from the new superhero franchises and the struggle to make 3D popular.
Here are five of them:
1. BIG GLOBAL FRANCHISES BECOME EVEN MORE IMPORTANT
It was the first summer in history in which three films reached a billion dollars globally.
The combined forces of the international box office expanded to reach new markets in Russia and China. And the plunging U.S. dollar grew foreign revenue and profits to record levels.
"It used to just be about domestic, but these days, if we can't get some sort of international buy-in, a project won't happen," one studio executive told TheWrap.
Domestically, audiences may have grown weary of aging franchises like Disney's "Pirates" -- at $238.4 million, "On Stranger Tides" was the series' lowest-grossing title in the U.S. and Canada. But in era in which foreign box-office revenue has offset some of the lost revenue from the fading DVD market, "Pirates" is a treasure to behold.
Also read: Currency Woes - Why the Weak Dollar Is Helping -- and Hurting -- Hollywood
In far-flung places like Krasnodar, Russia -- where some $200,000 worth of "On Stranger Tides" tickets were sold during opening weekend in late May -- franchises with nine years of established brand equity, not to mention global stars like Johnny Depp, travel well.
2. THE SEQUEL WELL IS RUNNING DRY
J.K. Rowling has firmly stated the Potter franchise will end on the distinct high note of "Deathly Hallows"; filmmaker Michael Bay and actor Shia LaBeouf have said publicly that they're done with "Transformers"; Summit's hugely profitable "Twilight Saga" will end in 15 months.
Some of the biggest global franchises in the film business are going bye-bye. Problem is, this summer didn't exactly rain fresh global hits to replace them.
