LOS ANGELES — Of all the people to come to Hollywood's rescue, who would have thought it would be the grown-ups?
But with a flurry of violent, R-rated movies closing out August, the summer movie season racked up another record. With one week to go in the industry's most important (and youth-oriented) season, ticket sales hit $4.26 billion, edging last year's record, $4.2 billion.
Of course, when adjusting for higher ticket prices, that means attendance actually was down this year by 2%, according to Media By Numbers.
But considering how weak the second half of summer was in general, "you'd have to be pretty pleased with the season," says Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com. "We came out smoking, then stumbled. But people responded in a big way to movies that you wouldn't normally expect."
Namely, those with a penchant for beatings and dismemberments. Inglourious Basterds, The Final Destination and Halloween II combined to push summer '09 over the top, literally.
The season had its share of clunkers, too. The Land of the Lost was never found by audiences. Funny People left few people laughing.
"We were definitely a little top-heavy; the best movies like Star Trek came out pretty early," says film critic Scott Mantz of TV's E! "But I'd have to say we did pretty well."
Here's a look at how the stars and films fared on USA TODAY's annual exam:
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