A cold snap in Fox's summer

WHEN News Corp. President Peter Chernin was taking a victory lap last week after the company reported a 27% jump in its fiscal fourth-quarter net income, he took pains to credit the 20th Century Fox Film Group for much of the good news. He also predicted healthy earnings in the future, pointing to such upcoming summer 2009 films as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Night at the Museum II: Escape From the Smithsonian." For Hollywood insiders, it was telling that Chernin -- perhaps the savviest showbiz mogul of our era -- somehow failed to mention any of his studio's movies from this summer.

And with good reason. This is the first summer since 1997 that Fox hasn't had a $100-million box-office hit. For 10 straight summers, the Fox assembly line has churned out every kind of hit imaginable, including the "X-Men" movies; comedies such as "Dr. Dolittle" and "Big Momma's House"; and last year's "The Simpsons Movie." Even more impressive: In three of the last four summers the studio had three $100-million-plus hits each year.

The remarkable consistency of the Fox movie machine has made this summer's series of disappointments and flops even more surprising. It's a shock to the system -- like the New York Yankees not making the playoffs. Built around intense fiscal discipline and tight creative control, Fox has been a studio that rarely made a false move.

But this summer has been different. Without a true tent-pole film, the results have been dispiriting. The studio's biggest hit was "What Happens in Vegas," a forgettable comedy that grossed $80 million in the U.S. and roughly $215 million around the world. "The Happening," a poorly reviewed thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, topped out at $64 million (although it has performed better overseas). The other films have been embarrassments, especially by Fox standards. "Meet Dave," a costly Eddie Murphy comedy, was a big bomb; "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" had a weak opening and dropped off precipitously afterward; and "Space Chimps" barely made a ripple (though it wasn't financed by Fox). This coming weekend's entry, "Mirrors," is another film Fox is simply distributing (it was financed by New Regency), but it's still eating up time and money on the release schedule. According to tracking numbers, it's on course to be another loser.

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