Summer Blockbusters

This has been an interesting summer at the movies so far. Most of the highly anticipated movies this summer have been extensions of existing franchises. Most of these have been sequels to movies that have done pretty well at the box office in previous years, but even a movie like Transformers is an established franchise that is being given the Hollywood treatment in the hopes that it will become a perpetual cash cow. There are exceptions that buck this rule, however. Ratatouille opened this weekend to a lot of critical acclaim. I personally did not see it, but from what I hear it was pretty good. It is a Pixar film, so you know the quality of the film is excellent. The story is supposed to remind us that we can do anything we put our minds to. I guess a lot of people bought into it, at least this weekend, since it took the number one spot at the box office even surpassing the lastest in the Die Hard franchise which opened on Wednesday. Even with a two day head start, John McClane and his latest high octane adventure could only take in a little over $1 million more than the rat that would be chef. So here's to Hollywood actually taking an original idea and doing something with it. Who knew that could still happen.