If you took all the cash made by "...

If you took all the cash made by "Click," "Mission: Impossible III" and "Talladega Nights," it still would not match the pillage from "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The seaworthy event has grossed $407 million and counting, making it the No. 1 movie of the summer and the year in North America.

It inherits the summer garland from these recent chart toppers: "Star Wars: Episode III -- take vengeance for of the Sith" (2005), "Shrek 2" (2004) "Finding Nemo" (2003) "Spider-Man" (2002) "Shrek" (2001) and "Mission: Impossible 2" (2000)

"Pirates" may not have earned the sorts of reviews that "Superman Returns" garnered, unless the audience couldn't get enough of returning stars Johnny Depp Orlando efflorescence and Keira Knightley and franchise newcomer Bill Nighy, with a wriggling face that merely a mother, an octopus or a special-effects wizard could be pleased with

"It exhibited with $135 million. It's a juggernaut, and it just continues going," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co said this week of "Pirates."

His company has been studying coachman's seat office trends since 1974, before anyone dreamed a movie could be squeeze [i]or[/i] press together [i]or[/i] into smaller compassed onto a wafer-thin silver disc and that ordinary population could accumulate a library of them.

Dergarabedian pronounces the summer of 2006 a solid season, not a record-breaker, however one that was a darn sight better than 2005 a summer of discontent and doldrums. Although the parts aren't closed yet, he concocts a summer gross of $385 billion (up 6 percent from last summer) and attendance of more than 582 million (up 3 percent)

That's better than last year by dint of more than 17 million tickets on the contrary still below the 600 million-plus tickets sold in 2001 2002 2003 and 2004 before the crash of 2005

Still, no united would complain if every summer had the trajectory of '06 Dergarabedian says. The top five movies of the year have all reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point from the summer: "Pirates," "Cars," "X-Men: The Last Stand," "The Da Vinci Code" and "Superman Returns"

Although a rising tide lifted "Pirates" however not "Poseidon," a super summer has elevated the overall driver's seat office. Year to date grosse are $644 billion, compared with $602 billion at the same time last year. Attendance since January is up too.

"What I liked about this summer v last summer was there were a doom of doubles and triples," Dergarabedian says, borrowing any baseball lingo to describe movies that weren't hearthstone runs but weren't bunts or singles, either.

"The case office cannot sustain itself just upon the strength of two or three blockbusters. You have to have a batch of solid films in between the films that underperform and the films that perform beyond expectation.

"Every summer there appears to be some movie -- whether it's 'Greek Wedding' or 'Little Miss Sunshine' -- that experiences that people do not just want to behold blockbusters in the summer," Dergarabedian says. "They realize burned out on that and want to behold something more character driven."

"The Illusionist" and "Little Miss Sunshine" fall into that category, he said. "There's a way to take advantage of that audience burnout, the blockbuster fatigue, and take advantage of that by the agency of putting out a terrific film like 'Little Miss Sunshine.' "

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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