Of the few thousand moviegoers polled for Fandango’s report on the ten most anticipated summer movies of 2008, I wonder if any were children. Missing from the list, which named Indiana Jones the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as highest and Sex and the City as lowest (though tied percent-wise with Speed Racer), are such animated tentpoles as DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda and Pixar’s Wall-E. The latter is even more shockingly absent due to the consideration that most Pixar films are enjoyed by adults as much as children. It’s definitely one of my top five movies to see this summer, and I’d bet its box office that it outperforms all of the movies listed below the Chronicles of Narnia sequel, Prince Caspian. The only dark horse I can see in there is Speed Racer, which could also be a huge hit with kids. The fact that it’s so far down on Fandango’s list either means really bad things for the Wachowskis or it’s just more reason to believe the poll is ignoring the significance of youth in the market of movie tickets.

Also excluded, though a bit more appropriately so, are less-blockbuster comedian comedies like You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, The Love Guru, Meet Dave, Step Brothers, Tropic Thunder and, surprisingly, Hancock, which is the latest in the traditional July 4th-weekend-released sci-fi/action comedies from Will Smith. Is this a sign that people think it looks like Smith’s worst summer movie since Wild Wild West? Or were those moviegoers that were polled even allowed to make selections other than the ten listed?

…Read more