With The Last Exorcism and Takers unlikely to change the movie landscape of 2010 too drastically, it's time to take a look back and examine what Hollywood learned from the Summer of 2010 before we close the books and try and put it behind us. What lessons can be taken away from this season of sequels, blockbusters, and bombs? The most obvious is that few films honestly connected with the public and most critics would give up even the gems like Inception and Toy Story 3 for the chance to wipe the entire season from our collective memory. For the most part, the hits were predictable and the bombs even more so, but there's always something to be taken away from a major summer season. Even the worst classes have something to teach. What lessons or rules of the game were learned or confirmed by Summer 2010? Let us recount the big seven.

1. Beloved Source Material
Means Nothing

Didn't we learn anything last year from The Time Traveler's Wife? In that case, a truly beloved novel that had been must-read material for what felt like years fell flat when it finally arrived on the big screen. Flash forward almost exactly one year as audiences who devoured Eat Pray Love in book form completely ignored the Julia Roberts big-screen version. And if another person tells me how much they love the comic version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I'm going to slap them and ask them why they didn't pay to see the movie. The A-Team looked like it had a loyal enough following to become a blockbuster but The Expendables will end up making more. Ramona and Beezus, Marmaduke, and Charlie St. Cloud failed to find the audience indicated by the love for their source material. The fact is that success in one form does not always mean success in another. Oprah's Book Club and TV ratings do not translate to box office. Let's try and remember that the next time someone brings the New York Times bestseller list to a production meeting.

I don't care what you read about Comic-Con but geeks no longer rule the box office. (Kids, tweens, and families do.) The success of comic book properties and films like District 9 led a few too many pundits and producers to think that everything geek-centric meant gold. Sure, Inception has a bit of a geeky sheen but it far transcends the Comic-Con niche audience. And that's what people seem to have forgotten. Movies based on video games and comic books are not automatic hits. Ask the people who made Prince of Persia, Jonah Hex, or even Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The combined gross of all three is unlikely to break that of Grown Ups. Even critically acclaimed movies that one would assume would play well to geek nation like Splice and Piranha 3D were box office disappointments. The fact is that geek-centric properties get the press but families go to the movies. Perhaps the inferior quality of a majority of comic book and video game films have finally pushed their audience to the breaking point where they'd rather just stay home and play or read instead of watch.

There were eight sequels in the summer of 2010 and only two will end up making more than the last film in their respective franchises (Toy Story 3 & The Twilight Saga: Eclipse). For years, it felt like sequels always meant a slight percentage increase on the previous installment but audiences seem to be less inclined than ever to spend their increasingly hard-earned money on something that they feel they've already seen before. Shrek Forever After, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, and Step Up 3D will all fail to match any film in their respective franchises despite the added box office of the cost of 3D glasses. And Sex and the City 2 is a bomb in comparison to the first film, struggling to make 65% of its predecessor (although, it should be noted, the film will still break $300 million overall with domestic and international … a sure sign that bad taste knows no language barriers). Even Tony Stark and Iron Man 2 wasn't immune to sequel exhaustion as a film that almost all of us thought would shatter the first movie's gross will fall short despite opening $30 million higher and on 200 more screens.

Two summers ago it was all about Pixar (WALL-E) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight). This summer, it's all about Pixar (Toy Story 3) and Christopher Nolan (Inception). While I love all four films in question, can we start spreading the wealth? The fact is that perhaps the most interesting creative lesson of summer 2010 is that we still need creative auteurs making movies to have a memorable season. You can't merely populate the summer months with product from directors-for-hire. You know why there wasn't much product like Inglourious Basterds, District 9, or The Hurt Locker this summer? Because there weren't a lot of directors like Quentin Tarantino, Neill Blomkamp, or Kathryn Bigelow releasing films. The fact is that most of the creative powerhouses stayed home for the summer and will release their works as the high temperatures drop. The reason that Pixar and Nolan topped the season is because they're the most talented players this season. Maybe next year, more all-stars will come to play.

Animation is still the most consistently performer at the box office and one has to wonder if new intellectual properties aren't being reimagined as 3D animated ones at every studio in Hollywood. If you could make a clever fantasy tale about a super-villain who tries to steal the moon, why not turn it into 3D animation instead and ride the trend? Half of the top six films of the season – Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, and Despicable Me – are animated. Does it feel like this is a waning trend to anyone? Of course not. Studios everywhere are looking harder and harder for properties that they can turn into the next animated juggernaut and it feels like every major animated release is guaranteed $100 million plus. Three of this summer's top ten. Next summer? Four! The summer after that – five! Everyone's talking about everything being 3D, but the most reliable trend has been CG-animation. Isn't that the trend we should watch?

The misuse of statistics to either support or dismantle James Cameron's belief that everything will soon be in 3D has been nauseating. The fact is that you could take this summer's box office and use it to either prop up the success of 3D, especially in the world of animation, or laugh at the grosses of Step Up 3D and Piranha 3D. The fact is that both sides are right and wrong. What's clearly happened is that audience members are obviously uninterested in seeing 3D just because it's 3D. It's only a tool for filmmakers and when audiences think it's the ONLY reason that a film exists, as in 3D pelvic gyrations and man-eating fish, they turn away. However, if they recognize that the 3D is merely a device for telling the story, as in Toy Story 3, then they're willing to embrace it. 3D has been compared to films going to color from black-and-white. The truth is that the comparison was too broad and that the closer parallel is a new camera or editing technique. It's all in the way that you use it.

7. This Year Sucks

Maybe we were just spoiled last year, but this summer was the worst in decades. Toy Story 3 and Inception would be two of the best films of any year, much less just of this season, but they stand very lonely in the current marketplace. If you take the 39 films this season to play on over 100 screens and break them down critically, their scores average only 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. Only 14 out of 39 cross the "Fresh" threshold, which means the season as a whole scored a 36% for quality major releases. For the majority of our summer, two out of three major releases weren't worth your time or popcorn money. Pathetic. There were a few bright spots but every one was off-set by at least two dull ones. With more and more people turning to other media for their entertainment through their iPad, video game console, or On Demand devices, how long do you think audiences will stand for being dissatisfied with two out of three major films? How long will you?

The Ten Best Films of Summer 2010
1. Inception
2. Toy Story 3
3. The Kids Are All Right
4. The Good, The Bad, The Weird
5. Cairo Time
6. Cyrus
7. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
8. Get Low
9. I Am Love
10. Get Him to the Greek

The Ten Worst Films of Summer 2010
1. Love Ranch
2. The Switch
3. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
4. Shrek Forever After
5. Marmaduke
6. The Expendables
7. Jonah Hex
8. Lottery Ticket
9. Sex and the City 2
10. The Sorcerer's Apprentice

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