This summer was a very profitable one for box offices nationwide, with four movies grossing over $300M, and at least another nine grossing over $100M -- signaling in a big way the resurgence of the movie industry, which had been struggling for the last few years.

The four big $300M+ winners of the summer were Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: SNE) 'sSpider-Man 3, which grossed $336M in the U.S., Viacom, Inc (NYSE: VIA)'s Paramount's Shrek the Third, which grossed $320M, Transformers, also from Paramount, which grossed $311M, and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS)'s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which grossed $308M.

Three of the four were third installments of well established big-budget franchises, so their success is hardly shocking, but the Transformers success clearly marks the start of a new blockbuster franchise (the release date of the sequel has been announced -- June 26, 2009). The robot-action extravaganza, which was directed by Michael Bay, was definitely a surprise, as I remarked in my summer movie preview that Transformers "has flop written all over it... there cannot possibly be enough substance in a story about alien robots that transform into vehicles to make this a hit with the general public." I was wrong -- very wrong. The movie killed at the box office, grossing over $330M on a $150M budget, and prompting a re-release on IMAX, which opened last week.

Sony Corp's (NYSE: SNE) "Superbad" ruled the weekend box office, raking in $31.2 million to become the No. 1 movie, according to estimates on Sunday. The teen comedy knocked off last weekend's top flick, New Line Cinema's "Rush Hour 3" to second place, and forced Warner Brother's (NYSE: TWX) "The Invasion," which stars veteran actress Nicole Kidman and the latest "James Bond," Daniel Craig, to open at No. 5.

Creating box-office hits seems to be a pattern for Judd Apatow, who has also directed "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". In Apatow teamed up with Seth Rogen who coincidentally also starred in "Knocked Up", "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and several other Apatow films. The pair has worked together for over a decade.

Sony had modest expectations for "Superbad" to earn somewhere in the $25 million range, despite having a production budget of $20 million. The $31 million dollar opening weekend was similar to Knocked Up, which opened with $30.7 million and went on to hit $100 million in sales.

Paul Derarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, believes that Apatow is a brand now, specializing in movies that appeal to older audiences who follow whatever he does, according to the Associated Press. Apatow is currently working on 6 films, including one with Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler, and two with long-time partner Seth Rogen. Unfortunately for Sony, they entertainment giant will not be involved in any of Apatow's next six films.