Domestic Box Office down for 9th Straight Week

Overall business for the motion picture industry was down for the nineth straight week. The week's biggest opener, The Interpreter, debuted with a fairly strong $22.8 million. The other new release, A Lot Like Love, opened with a somewhat disappointing $7.7 million.

For nearly two months, the box office has trailed behind last year's impressive numbers. Last year, The Passion of the Christ proved to be the spark that brought movie goers out in very large numbers. This year, no film has had that same effect. While the new releases like Sin City and Sahara haven't been total busts, they haven't brought in the money like studios hoped they would.

The movie industry is limping into the summer season, the busiest and most profitable time of the year. The industry has been holding its collective breath, waiting for the film that will put the year back in a good light. The summer has quite a few offerings: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Kingdom of Heaven, Stars Wars Episode II: Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and more. Certainly, the industry hopes a few of these movies will cause fans to flock to the theaters. If not, this year could go down in history as one of the poorer years at the movies.