Hollywood's NO RISK summer breaks box office records!

C'mon, take a chance -- what's a few hundred million between friends? Actually, Hollywood can be very unfriendly. Directors and producers like to take chances, stars love to explore their range, and everyone likes to work on something cool, but the truth is, most studios are run by attorneys. Risk adverse, bottom line, aggressive, egotistical attorneys. And if I was working for a studio, I would probably be getting chewed out right now.

Hollywood bets on success. So what to do? Take all your biggest hits and go for repeat performances. After all, it is the movie business, so sequels were the order of the day, or rather the order of the weekend, almost every weekend. That said, Hollywood had its best summer ever.

Pirates III, Harry Potter V, Fantastic Four II, Shrek III, Spiderman III, Bourne III, and Superman whatever laid the foundation for a HUGE summer run. Just last week, I posted Rupert Murdoch & Homer Simpson are winners -- look for sequels. While The Simpsons was not necessarily a sequel -- Homer chastises the audience for paying to see a television show at the movies -- we were essentially seeing The Simpsons #301 (after 19 or 20 years on television). The Mr. Bean movie and Jet Li's War might as well be sequels. Add to that some formulaic comedies and all was good in Tinseltown. The top 12 movies took in $90.2 million this weekend, up 7% from the same weekend last year, when Invincible opened at No. 1 with $17 million.

One charmer that was not a sequel, Ratatouille, continued Pixar's hit parade. Credit Pixar for continued originality, though I think it has developed its own elixir for success. Pixar is the Magic Studio to Disneyland's Magic Kingdom.

All told, the movie studios did quite well -- my colleague Jonathan Berr commented favorably on Disney (NYSE: DIS) earlier today (Disney (DIS), United Tech. (UTX) and other 'slacker' stocks). Not all shared in the glory, though: Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) did not see any noteworthy movement in its stock price, and is actually down for the year.

Next summer's scripts are being finalized now, budgeting is under way, talent is being locked up, and production will soon start. No doubt we will be seeing more of the same. Shrek IV has already been announced.

Disclosure: I own TWX stock as of today's date.

To verify my track record, including bad calls, read Chasing Value and Serious Money.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.