Angels Trounce Hulk

The Hulk's second weekend out of the gate found the big green beast falling behind four (counting the naughty one) lovely angels -- way behind. Weekend gross for the flick tumbled 70.3% to $18.4 million, while Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle pulled in $38 million.

Despite the angels' ascension to the top spot, the $38 million it banked was below the $45 million that was hoped for. It also fell behind the first Charlie's Angels movie back in 2000, which made $40.1 million its opening weekend.

The Hulk and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle aren't alone, though. So far, the summer of 2003 is largely disappointing when compared to last summer's monstrous successes. A record four films have raked in more than $200 million, but none of them seem set to surpass last year's Spider-Man or Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, which ended up grossing $403.7 million and $310.4 million respectively.

Marvel's (NYSE: MVL  ) Hulk has been one of the biggest disappointments, particularly versus Marvel's other smash hits Spider-Man and X2: X-Men United. Still, the company, which is one of David Gardner's recommendations for Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has already made its green from the green movie, thanks to its capped movie fee. And it will continue to rake in licensing revenues as well.

Interestingly, the two biggest movie successes this summer hail from two of David Gardner's other Stock Advisor recommendations. Pixar's (Nasdaq: PIXR  ) Finding Nemo has brought in nearly $254 million this summer. AOL Time Warner's (NYSE: AOL  ) The Matrix Reloaded has made almost $270 million. Nemo's been out two weeks less than The Matrix Reloaded, though, which means that the little fishy tale will likely leap Neo and gang to become the top grossing movie of the year.

In the end, last summer was unprecedented when it came to movie successes. Even though 2003 won't quite measure up, it still will be the second-best summer yet, and that's nothing to complain about.