A giant loss for studios?

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Scott Bowles

LAS VEGAS -- Hollywood may have taken in a record $9.6 billion at the box office in 2007, but it could have been so much more.

Studios left "hundreds of millions on the table" by refusing to release "event" films throughout the year, says John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theatre Owners.

April and September were "virtually empty" of big movies because studios were bent on opening pictures during the summer and Oscar seasons, he told theater owners Tuesday at the annual ShoWest convention. "They look at their calendar and wait for May and say, 'OK, now we can open our tent-pole movie.'"

Last year's Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean, which opened three weeks apart, could have done "at least another $50 (million) or $60...