And so, after the pessimism and gloom over the state of the box office in 2005, this past year, 2006, will come as a relief to many. Final box office numbers for the year are expected to be up about 5 percent over 2006, to $9.4 billion. Total ad spending could be up even more.

What’s more, 2007 is looking even stronger. “I would expect this year there to be a number of all-time records broken in terms of box office,” says Michael Gubbins, editor at Screen International, an international film magazine.

Box office revenue could top $10 billion for the first time ever. “We currently think that the full year will see about a 7 percent increase, which would be very strong,” says Charlotte Jones, cinema analyst at Screen Digest, a London media research firm. “That would be a strong landmark for the U.S. box office.”

Driving that growth: a raft of blockbusters set to reach moviehouses this summer. It looks to be a year chock-a-block with brand-name sequels on a level that experts say is almost unheard off. 

Among the big-name sequels out in May alone are “Shrek the Third,” the final Pirates movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and "Spider-Man 3," all of which Jones believes have the potential to gross over $300 million at the box office.

Then out later in the summer are the fifth of the giant Harry Potter franchise, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix,” and a movie that is not a sequel but comes with big brand recognition, “The Simpsons Movie,” based on the popular “Simpsons” TV show. 

“All of those five are extremely successful brands, and none have shown any signs of dropping off yet,” says Gubbins. “I can’t see any of them failing.”

There are also strong expectations for “Bourne Ultimatum,” the third movie in the “Bourne Supremacy” series, the “Transformers,” based on the popular toys and cartoons, and “Ratatouille,” a Disney/Pixar movie about a rat who wants to become a chef.

The one worry, with some many movies coming out back to back, is cannabalization: movie-goers choosing to skip some they might otherwise see in order to see others, reasoning that they can always catch them on DVD.

If is this past summer is an indication, that is not a major worry. Movie-goers found the time, and Screen Digest's Jones says they've been trained do so. “People are used to the idea that the summer represents the best of the movies."

Another interesting trend to watch for this year, beyond the big brand releases, will be 3D movies, which the big studios are looking to as the next big thing as home cinemas get more sophisticated. This year, “Meet the Robinsons” is set to be released March at 500 digital 3D movie houses. Then in November comes “Beowolf,” to be seen on 1,000 3D screens.

Meanwhile, in other popcult, 20th Century Fox’s “Night at the Museum” won the box office over the weekend, ahead of Sony’s “The Pursuit of Happyness” and Paramount’s “Dreamgirls.” “Charlotte’s Web,” also from Paramount, was in fourth, and MGM’s “Rocky Balboa” squeaked in to fill out the top five.

In DVD rentals for the week ended Dec.24, “The Devil Wears Prada” stayed in first place, ahead of chart debuter “Little Miss Sunshine.” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” was third, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” came in fourth, and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” rounded out the top five.

On iTunes for the week ended Sunday, Beyonce held the top spot with “Irreplaceable,” Fergie was second with “Fergalicious,” and The Fray moved up to third with chart perennial “How to Save a Life.” In fourth was “It Ends Tonight” from The All-American Rejects, followed by “Say it Right” by Nelly Furtado.

In books, Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day” remained at the top of both the New York Times hardcover fiction list and the USA Today top 150, while Barack Omaba’s “The Audacity of Hope” was first on the Times’ hardcover nonfiction list and third on USA Today’s list. “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards topped the Times’ paperback fiction list and was sixth on the USA Today list, while the top book on the Times paperback nonfiction list, “The Pursuit of Happyness” by Chris Gardner, didn’t even crack the top 10 on the USA Today list – it came in 24th.