海角大神

This year鈥檚 franchise-laden summer movie slate 鈥� with a record 27 sequels, prequels, and spinoffs 鈥� casts a mighty shadow over the warm-weather filmgoing landscape.

But despite the presence of every popcorn fave from X-Men to Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean, there are some signs that small films 鈥� which make up three-quarters of theatrical films in any given year 鈥� just might be on track to get some sunshine of their own.

Consider this past weekend鈥檚 performance of such high-toned films as Terence Malick鈥檚 鈥淭ree of Life鈥� and Woody Allen鈥檚 鈥�Midnight in Paris.鈥� While both opened in only a handful of theaters, each placed in the top 12 on a per-screen box office basis, says Paul Dergarabedian, a box office expert with Hollywood.com.

鈥淚t looks like we are on track to have a very good summer for the specialty films,鈥� says Mr. Dergarabedian, noting that while blockbusters tend to sell themselves, 鈥渢hese smaller, specialty films rely heavily on critical reviews.鈥�

Many in the film industry were wringing their hands not even a month ago as box office returns dropped 20 percent from the previous year. But in a few short weeks, particularly bolstered by the strongest Memorial Day weekend box office in movie history 鈥� some $280 million 鈥� the box office take has rebounded to surpass the same period in 2010.

鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing like one good movie to get film fans back into the moviegoing habit,鈥� says Harry Medved, spokesman for Fandango.com. 鈥淭he summer started off with the universally-well-liked Fast Five鈥� 87 percent of our moviegoers said Fast Five fueled their interest in checking out other movies at the theater this summer.鈥�

'Something for everyone'

Studios have realized that, more than ever, diversity is the key to survival, says Ean Mering, senior creative producer of Pomegranate , a digital media network agency. Even big films have bowed to this necessity, he points out.

鈥淟ook at the marketing campaign for 鈥�Horrible Bosses,鈥� 鈥� he says, referring to a film starring Jennifer Aniston opening July 8. A different character and storyline appear on virtually every piece of the campaign, he says. 鈥淭his way, they can reach out to as many segments of the marketplace as possible.鈥�

As most of the major film studios have shuttered their specialty film divisions, and a shrinking DVD market has dried up funding for smaller films, this ray of light in the small film world is welcome news for aspiring filmmakers with movies to sell.

Producer Brandon Yankowitz鈥檚 film 鈥淭rophy Kids鈥� begins its journey through the film festival marketing process this weekend with its debut at the Dances with Films Festival in Los Angeles. The film, budgeted at under $1 million, details a generation raised on praise and trophies: 鈥淲e all just got trophies simply for showing up,鈥� he says with a laugh.

Mr. Yankowitz happily plunks down his own eight or ten dollars to support his fellow small filmmakers, he says. 鈥淭he better those films do, the better it is for all of us starting out.鈥�

This is a glorious summer, says Fandango鈥檚 Mr. Medved. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something for everyone,鈥� he notes via email. 鈥淛ust look at the better-than-projected openings for small films like Woody Allen鈥檚 鈥楳idnight in Paris鈥� and Terence Malick鈥檚 鈥楾ree of Life,鈥� which enjoyed the best per-screen average in Fox Searchlight history last weekend.鈥�

This summer鈥檚 roster of specialty films offers a few prospects for sleeper breakout on the par of a 鈥�Little Miss Sunshine鈥� or 鈥�Slumdog Millionaire.鈥� Two strong possibilities, both opening Friday, are 鈥淪ubmarine,鈥� a Scottish coming-of-age tale about a 15-year-old in the throes of first love, and 鈥�Beginners,鈥� a father/son comedy/drama starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.