Only in America

LONDON — Summer’s here and the time is right . . . to take in a few movies. Maybe several.

Well, that might be true in the United States, but in the rest of the world it ain’t necessarily so. Summer movies alone may constitute a billion-dollar industry for Hollywood--but many other countries associate summer months with a sharp decline in movie attendance.

As for other countries creating their own domestic films, tailored specifically for a seasonal market--let’s just say that the notion of summer movies seems a peculiarly American one.

Distributors and exhibitors in the U.S. start rubbing their hands in glee just before Memorial Day, anticipating the revenue to be accrued from blockbuster movies over a long summer stretch lasting right through to Labor Day.

But in Italy, for example, things are very different. The whole country lapses into a summer-long siesta, and much activity, including moviegoing, is sharply diminished.

British theater owners spend summers anxiously eyeing overcast skies and hoping fervently for rain. Often, of course, their prayers are answered. If they’re not, exhibitors have a lean time--bright sunshine is enough of a novelty and attraction for Brits to enjoy it while they can, rather than spending precious hours cooped up in movie theaters.

In Australia, it’s different again. Down under, temperatures soar around Christmas and the coolest month is July. During the months the rest of us call summer, it’s mild and pleasant in Australia--an ideal climate for moviegoing. As a result, it’s the territory that most closely resembles the U.S. in terms of film releases in the next few months.

Industry figures and observers familiar with international distribution agree that nowhere in the world has a summer movie season, with its own sense of event, quite like America. Those interviewed were also unanimous that two major factors tend to determine the character of summer movies in different territories--climate and air-conditioning.

“It’s a problem in many European countries,” says Annika Pham, a French trade journalist based here. “In Mediterranean countries especially, it’s so hot that a lot [of theaters] close down in summer. There are few releases, and the releases there are tend to be American titles.”

In southern Europe, she added, “lots of cinemas are not in good condition. The seats are poor, there’s no air-conditioning. It’s true in Greece, it’s true in Italy, it’s even true in parts of the south of France. Those movie theaters in summer are not pleasant places to be.”

Hilary Clark, Fox’s Paris-based vice president of international publicity, agrees: “For movies, Italy literally shuts down between May and September. In August, many offices shut down totally. It’s not until the Venice Film Festival [in September] that the country’s back in business. Italians take their [vacations] very seriously.”

But Clark, who moved to Paris six years ago, has noticed a shift in French summer movie release patterns: “It also used to be a market that shut down in summer--yet in the last couple of years I’ve noticed certain distributors have taken a look at the market and decided to put in a big film and scoop the market. A couple of years back, the third “Die Hard” movie was released at the height of the summer, which was regarded as brave. But it performed well.”

France is now benefiting from movie chains building new multiplex theaters. many of them air-conditioned or climate-controlled, which makes them more attractive choices for summer audiences.

British screens in summertime are dominated by Hollywood blockbusters, typically released a few weeks after their American openings. For the rest, says Jonathan Rutter of McDonald Rutter, one of London’s leading film PR companies, “it tends to be ‘let’s flush this down the toilet’ types of films. There’s not much in between. The only other films released are those that don’t give you much confidence. But smaller screens still need product, and it’s less competitive in summer.”

The unpredictable weather makes Britain a tricky summer market. “When is the English summer?” asks Rutter plaintively. “We don’t think of May as truly a summer month, but last year ‘Fargo’ opened May 31, when the weather was absolutely glorious. And the film didn’t deliver an audience as well as had been expected. Yet it’s July and the early part of August that are the times [distributors] keep clear of.”

Rain can be a godsend to British theater owners. Rutter recalled visiting a seaside resort last summer with his family, where a small independent movie theater had posted its show times: “It said, ‘Flipper’ at 5 and 7--and 3 o’clock if it’s a wet afternoon,” he said.

Each country has its own variations on the summer theme. In Europe, the further north the country, the better chance of temperate weather and large movie audiences. Clark noted that Fox will open “Speed 2” in Germany “at the center of the summer” and in France in July (trying to replicate the surprise success of “Die Hard With a Vengeance.”) The film opens in Britain in August.

There is another French twist to the summer schedules; the country’s Cannes Film Festival is a hugely influential launching pad for movies, which often open in the country’s theaters within days of being shown at the festival, thus capitalizing on the huge publicity blitz surrounding the event. This year the opening Cannes movie, Luc Besson’s $80-million science-fiction movie, “The Fifth Element,” premiered in Paris the same day--May 7. A similar strategy was applied to Bertolucci’s “Stealing Beauty,” which was shown at Cannes last year.

Stephanie Bunbury, a London-based Australian film journalist, noted that June and July, Australia’s winter months, are when the focus turns to film and movie attendance is at its highest.

“The nearest equivalent to America’s summer movie season happens immediately after Christmas,” she noted. “That’s when the weather is hottest, so people spend a lot of time outside, having barbecues or going to the beach. It’s also the start of the long school holidays. But often on the day after Christmas, or on New Year’s Day, a big Hollywood movie opens, and it’s a big deal.”

Australia was notable last year as the first country outside the U.S. where “Independence Day” opened. This summer, Clark said, Fox plans to open “Titanic” there in late July--assuming it is ready in time for its originally scheduled July 2 opening weekend in the U.S. “That tells you a lot about Australia as a summer market, ‘ Clark said. “You don’t open a picture like [“Titanic”], with such a lot riding on it, at such a time--unless there’s a substantial market there.”

In Japan, summer is the year’s peak movie season thanks to more leisure time, a reliance on America’s summer blockbusters and a desire to flee the muggy weather for air-conditioned theaters.

Ticket sales soar in the summer as Japanese take advantage of what is for many their longest vacation time--particularly in August, when students are out of school and workers take time off during Obon, the late-summer holiday period of traditional events to commemorate the dead.

Movie companies scramble to draw audiences away from other leisure activities.

“Summer vacation is the longest, and people who are normally in school or at work and can’t go to the theaters have plenty of free time, so companies always release blockbusters then,” said Yoshimitsu Honda of Shochiku Co. Ltd., one of Japan’s largest film companies.

The dominance of American movies in the Japanese market means Hollywood’s summer blitz rolls over to Japan as well. Releases of Hollywood films there tend to lag two to three months behind the United States--meaning that a movie released for America’s summer season in May or June often opens in Japan in July or August, when most Japanese have vacation.

Some Japanese distributors of American movies hold their releases until summer to cash in on this peak--the “Star Wars” trilogy, for example, will run from the end of May to September.

Japanese filmmakers also release in summer works that show the most profit-making promise. Movies aimed at teenagers and children, particularly animation, tend to be the biggest draws for families who flock to theaters during school vacation in late July and August. This summer, one of Japan’s best-loved animated filmmakers--Hayao Miyazaki, known for “My Neighbor Totoro”--will release his newest film, “Mononokehime” (Princess Mononoke).

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Elizabeth Lazarowitz of The Times’ Tokyo bureau contributed to this report.