Slowly but steadily, 20th Century Fox climbed to the top spot in the North American market-share race for summer 2004. For most of the early part of the season, the distributor was in the second spot, chasing DreamWorks. At summer's midpoint, the two competitors jockeyed for position, challenging each other for the top spot several times. But buoyed by a series of solid releases, Fox commandeered the No. 1 spot in late July and never looked back. Several others tried to grab the gold and silver medals away from Fox and DreamWorks, but no other distributor could mount a sustained challenge for the two top spots on the season's podium.

Fox collected a stout $610.5 million and cornered a 18.0% share of the market to take first place in the summer's rankings, which this year represent the 15 weeks between Memorial Day week and Labor Day.

Other tracking services, which take a different view of the summer, tipped the balance in favor of DreamWorks. Nielsen EDI, which this year judged May 7 as the beginning date of the summer season, awarded DreamWorks the top market-share prize, courtesy of its "Shrek 2" grosses, followed by Fox, Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony and Universal.

Fox's performance represented a significant rally after its sixth-place finish last summer, when the studio generated a bleak $141.9 million. The total boxoffice gathered by Fox this summer was the fourth-highest summer gross in history for a North American distributor and a company best for the studio. The company's previous summer high was $526.9 million in 1998, when "There's Something About Mary" and "Dr. Dolittle" were topping the charts. That also was the last year Fox won the summer market share race.

DreamWorks took the second spot with $557.6 million and held on to a North American market share of 16.5%, most of which was derived from the blockbuster animated sequel "Shrek 2." That achievement represented a major comeback for the studio, which essentially sat out the summer of 2003 when it had only one release, the animated misfire "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas."

In fact, this summer was DreamWorks' historically best showing by far, surpassing the $391.4 million gross it collected in 2000, when "Gladiator," "What Lies Beneath" and "Chicken Run" grossed more than $100 million each.

In an Olympic summer, Sony took the bronze medal with a market share totaling 14.7% and a cumulative $497.7 million. Warner Bros. Pictures tapped $454.7 million in gross receipts and a market share of 13.4% to place fourth.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Buena Vista failed to finish in the first or second spot. The distribution arm of the Walt Disney Co. finished the summer in fifth place with $315.4 million and a 9.3% share of the market. The last time the company finished outside the top two spots was in 1995, when it placed third.

Universal checked in at No. 6 with $267.8 million and a 7.9% market share, followed by Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Releasing, New Line Cinema and MGM.

On a distributor-by-distributor basis, though, the summer of 2004 did not set any major records.

Two years ago, Sony set the bar for the highest summer gross in history when, with an assist from "Spider-Man," it racked up $708.2 million -- the first time a distributor surpassed the $700 million mark over the summer. In fact, prior to 2002, no distributor had even crossed the $600 mark.

Last summer set even more records as two distributors grossed more than $700 million each -- another industry first. Buena Vista chalked up a record high $773.7 million, thanks to the one-two punch of "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and Universal had its best summer ever with $729.5 million.

This year, by contrast, the two top distributors mustered more than $500 million each. The last year that occurred was 1998, when Fox and Buena Vista topped the charts.

But 2003 wasn't a photocopy of 1998, either. That year, the top earners claimed most of the prize. This summer, the boxoffice wealth was spread around a bit more democratically, becoming the first summer that four distributors could claim more than $400 million each.

Fox didn't achieve its determined victory with the usual razzle-dazzle of a $300 million-grossing behemoth. Rather than hit just one film out of the park, the distributor left its mark with a consistent string of base hits, which led to a winning boxoffice score by the end of the season.

Fox's boxoffice streak actually started prior to the beginning of summer. Since late April, Fox has had six consecutive films open to more than $20 million each -- an industry best. And of the studio's six summer releases, three went on to take in more than $100 million each.

While sequels dominated the top three spots at the boxoffice this summer, Fox also was something of an anomaly, since its top-grossing film, "The Day After Tomorrow," was a nonsequel. The studio fielded only one sequel, "Alien vs. Predator," an August release, which effectively batted cleanup.

"Tomorrow," the extreme-weather actioner, warmed up to $186.4 million to become the highest-grossing nonsequel of the summer and the season's fourth-biggest movie overall. For Fox, "I, Robot" was next with $141.9 million, while the low-budget comedy "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" proved a surprise sleeper with $113.7 million. "Garfield: The Movie," a live-action/CG offering aimed at the family audience, did a respectable $75 million, followed by "AVP" with $77 million.

DreamWorks' second-place standing was all the more impressive given that the company released only four films, all of which did respectable business. The animated "Shrek 2" shattered boxoffice records, collecting an outstanding $436.5 million (which includes some presummer revenue since the film was released prior to Memorial Day, on May 19).

For DreamWorks, "Shrek 2" was followed by the Tom Cruise starrer "Collateral," a dark and edgy film co-starring Jamie Foxx, which hit $88.9 million by Labor Day weekend. "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," the comedy starring Will Ferrell, collected $84.1 million. "The Terminal" avoided being left on the runway by quietly climbing to $77 million, but considering its A-list pedigree of director Steven Spielberg and star Tom Hanks, it was viewed as a disappointment.

Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Sony's summer boxoffice came from "Spider-Man 2." The blockbuster sequel was the second-highest-grossing film of the season, with a stellar $369.9 million, and was the studio's only picture to gross more than $100 million.

Sony's summer tally was a slight improvement on 2003 when the distributor also finished third and collected $454.5 million. But it did fall far short of Sony's company best of $708.2 million, generated in 2002.

Warners once again placed fourth, as it did in 2003. But its tally of $454.7 million registered a solid 33% increase over 2003's $341.5 million. A lot of Warners' summer magic came from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which was the third-highest-grossing film of the season with $248.3 million.

Buena Vista had a dreadful summer at the boxoffice -- especially in comparison to the distributor's own performance in years past. The worst in more than a decade, BV's summer was mostly a series of misfires and underperformers. Only "Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement" ($85.5 million) lived up to expectations.

Lions Gate made its first appearance among the top distributors of summer, thanks to the partisan documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" ($118 million). The distributor placed eighth with $153.6 million. "Fahrenheit" quickly became the highest-grossing documentary in history, while the low-budget "Open Water" ($28.2 million) added to the pot when it went wide in mid-August.