Hollywood's summer season kicks off on May 4, 2012; as with recent years, the four-month period is dominated by superheroes, sequels and franchise reboots featuring epic battles between good and evil. With the summer season generating as much as 40 per cent of the annual domestic box office, the pressure is on to lure core audiences of mostly young men to theaters, and superhero films, sequels and reboots most often do exactly that.

Movies based on characters and stories that are well-known, such as those in comic books, or games, film sequels, remakes and best-selling books reach audiences of built-in fans that typically turn out in droves. Book-to-film titles already have helped push movie ticket sales up 14 per cent this year to $3.3 billion. Theater attendance is up 17 per cent giving box office watchers reason to think the summer will top last year's $4.4 billion in seasonal revenues.– Reuters