The summer of 2007 is still on track to be the biggest in box-office history, thanks to its abundance of blockbuster sequels and unexpected hits such as Knocked Up, which made up for underperformers like Evan Almighty, according to exhibitors.

‘In February we all thought this was going to be the biggest summer ever,’ recalls Ellis Jacob, president and CEO of Cineplex. ‘Three weeks ago, I was kind of skeptical we’d get there, but now I think there’s a good chance,’ he says, adding that The Simpsons Movie’s $72-million North American opening this past weekend was a ‘huge surprise.’

Cineplex has not released its numbers for the summer yet, but Jacob says there’s a good chance the summer will be a record-breaker.

Dean Leland, VP of marketing and media for Atlantic-based Empire Theatres, Canada’s second-largest cinema exhibitor behind Cineplex, says his company is very pleased with how the season has turned out.

‘We’re certainly tracking ahead of the summer from last year… which is exactly where we expected to be, especially with May, with the month of sequels… it was tremendous,’ he says.

Leland concedes that comedies including Universal’s special effects-laden Evan Almighty, Warner Bros.’s License to Wed and the Sony animation Surf’s Up have been disappointments, while the Universal comedy Knocked Up was a ‘surprise out of the blue.’

‘It’s a film that nobody really knew much about or put a lot of weight to, but it did well and continues to do so,’ he says. Knocked Up has earned $145 million in North America to date, and more than $13 million in Canada as of July 26.

As predicted, May produced the top three earners of the season to date in North America, led by Sony’s Spider-Man 3 with US$335 million, Shrek the Third with $318 million for DreamWorks, and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End earning $306 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

But the summer box office has also been bolstered by hits that opened later, according to distribution expert Howard Lichtman of the Lightning Group.

‘It wasn’t top-heavy like certain summers where May is big and then by June and July everything is teetered out… this year, they’re much more evenly split,’ he says, citing the big box-office weekends of films including Transformers, Ratatouille, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Transformers, which opened July 6, is the fourth highest earner of the summer thus far with $284 million, and $24 million in Canada as of July 26.

The summer of sequels continues in a stronger-than-usual August with the upcoming releases of The Bourne Ultimatum from Universal Pictures, and New Line Cinema’s Rush Hour 3.

‘It’s rare going into August with big titles… unlike previous summers, there are a number of films that have strong box-office power,’ says Lichtman.