As expected, the summer of 2009 easily trounced that of 2007 to become the highest-grossing summer season ever, with box-office receipts totaling an incredible $4.35 billion (beating 2007's so-so $4.16 billion and last year's embarrassing $4.14 billion). How did Hollywood manage such impressive numbers with this summer's string of failed star vehicles and a Dark Knight–less crop of hit-or-miss blockbusters? Higher ticket fees, obviously! Premium-priced passes for 3-D and Imax (both real and fake) screenings helped 2009 overcome a 2 percent drop in attendance from 2008, meaning studios, now under pressure to top these returns next year, are frantically searching for new things they might charge moviegoers extra for. So if the fourth dimension exists, you can probably expect Jeffrey Katzenberg to find it before next May.

Summer's final tally: $4.35 billion [Variety]