This summer has been built on summer tent poll sequels, more so than most other summers. In 4 weeks we saw Spider Man, Shrek and Pirates. Now we are seeing Evan Almighty ,Die Hard 4, Rush Hour and Jason Bourne. Not a single one of these sequels has lived up to its hype, in terms of quality or financially. But Knocked Up and 1408 are rolling in dough far exceeding their budgets. So why is it that studios continually pump out rehashed versions of the same film instead of more original films like Knocked Up, 1408 and Waitress? All they are really achieving is a facade of success. Numbers are not that great, but $300 million looks like a big number so all is forgiven. The film only cost $150 million so you have doubled your money...... correct? Well when you think about advertising and merchandising costs of at least the direct cost of the film, $300 million doesn't look so large. My only guess is that these films are far easier to get pushed through and you can guarantee at least a little profit from tent poll movies. But for once the summer films are all floundering and by far greater extremes that what was expected. My only hope (and this is a beacon of light under a mile of dirt) is that movie goers will continue to view these tent poll films in the comfort of their own homes on their huge TVs and reward the films that everyone is surprised about. SO if you are reading this post, I urge you to go out and see something unique. See Knocked Up, I promise you that you will laugh your butt off. See an independent film, see a documentary, see something different.