How This Year's Flicks Stack Up Against Last Year's

LOS ANGELES – Here's a sampling of the good and bad Hollywood has had to offer this summer compared to 2005, with the movies' domestic grosses.

2006

"X-Men: The Last Stand" — Those wacky mutants ended their trilogy with a story and characters as flat as their comic-book roots, but they packed in bigger audiences than the two previous outings. Gross to date: $228.5 million.

"The Da Vinci Code" — Critics laughed at the Cannes Film Festival premiere. Then Tom Hanks and Ron Howard laughed all the way to the bank as the critically drubbed religious thriller sold tickets like Bibles in a revival tent. Gross to date: $209.8 million.

"Cars" — So the latest animated comedy from the Disney-Pixar partnership isn't living up to "The Incredibles" or "Finding Nemo." Poor Disney and Pixar, which will have to make do with $200 million and change instead of $300 million. Gross to date: $182 million.

"Over the Hedge" — Cute little woodland creatures with Bruce Willis' and Garry Shandling's voices came to suburbia looking for something to eat. They raked in the lettuce. Gross to date: $147.6 million.

"Mission: Impossible III" — Has Tom Cruise learned his lesson? Shoot your mouth off about the perils of psychiatry and hop up and down on Oprah's couch over your love for your woman, and you do not pass Go, you do not collect $200 million. Gross: $132.3 million.

"The Break-Up" — Not a reality-TV-style movie about Jennifer Aniston's painful divorce from Brad Pitt, but a fortuitous simulation. Aniston's comedy benefited from the Pitt-Angelina Jolie baby mania, audiences checking in to make sure Pitt's ex was doing OK. Gross to date: $110 million.

"Poseidon" — Cast, crew and script went down with the ship in this remake of the 1970s disaster tale about an overturned ocean liner. When your big capsizing special effect is the star of your movie, why should anyone care which superficial character lives or dies? Gross to date: $58 million.

"Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" — Hairball. Kitty litter. Cat without claws. Pick your feline metaphor for this family film fleabag that audiences couldn't bring themselves to adopt. Gross to date: $21.5 million.

2005

"Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" — If you endured Anakin Skywalker's whiny growing pains in Episodes I and II, of course you were going to turn out to see him change into his Darth Vader formal wear. George Lucas sent "Star Wars" out with a galactic big bang. Gross: $380.3 million.

"War of the Worlds" — They traveled light-years with their mighty ray guns. Why couldn't our space invaders send in their version of a canary in a coal mine to make sure Earth's air was free of toxic microbes? No matter, audiences love to see humans beat aliens, even by default. Gross: $234.3 million.

"Wedding Crashers" — Some go to weddings to meet potential mates. Some go to pick up one-night stands. And many, many movie fans go to see films about the latter, turning it from sleeper hit to comedy sensation of the year. Gross: $209.2 million.

"Batman Begins" — With a huge inherited fortune and a lot of time on his hands, angry young Bruce Wayne goes into the vigilante business. Fans rushed in to see the Dark Knight take his first steps into the superhero world. Gross: $205.3 million.

"Bewitched" — Nicole Kidman had the twitching-nose thing down pat. All else about this half-baked update of the 1960s sitcom had disenchanted audiences thumbing their own noses at the witch who marries a mortal. Gross: $63.3 million.

"Kingdom of Heaven" — "Gladiator"-lite from director Ridley Scott, whose latest sortie into the world of historical battle epics proved that the medieval Crusades truly are ancient history. Gross: $47.4 million.

"The Island" — Michael Bay blasted the Earth with asteroids in "Armageddon" and Japanese bombs in "Pearl Harbor." He learned how to bomb, Hollywood-style, with this sci-fi dud about clones on the run from humans harvesting them for body parts. Gross: $35.8 million.

"Stealth" — Rob Cohen, the director behind "The Fast and the Furious" and "XXX," took a nosedive on this military thriller about ace fighter pilots trying to take down a rogue drone plane with a mind of its own. Gross: $32.1 million.