Walt Disney found honor and profit in feature-length cartoons, and so have his heirs. In 2008, four animated films finished in the top 10; this year there'll be at least three. Disney/Pixar's starless, near flawless Up is the third biggest domestic moneymaker of the season, and Blue Sky/Fox's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is sixth. (Monsters vs Aliens, from the other big animation studio, DreamWorks, was champ of the presummer box office, earning nearly $200 million in North America and another $180 million in foreign markets.) CGI rules in the big live-action films too. Whether drawing an old guy with balloons or making giant toys fight, computer-nerd wizards are the new Hollywood royalty.
10 Lessons from the 2009 Box Office
Forget the stars, hire Transformers and don't forget the women here are the 10 things every movie mogul should keep in mind when it comes to the summer of 2010.