Slump? What boxoffice slump?

Here in Hollywood, the film industry may be suffering through its summer of discontent, but 3,000 miles away in Manhattan, the lights are brighter than ever on Broadway, which is enjoying a torrid summer. Attendance and ticket sales have bettered last year's numbers for the past 20 weeks, jumping 10.8% over the corresponding level last year, according to the League of American Theatres and Producers.

Critics have complained loudly that this summer's movie lineup has relied too heavily on remakes of older movies and retoolings of old TV shows. But while theater critics have lobbed the same attacks on Broadway, the ticket-buying public doesn't seem to care.

For the week ending Aug. 7, most of the shows playing to SRO audiences played variations on established properties: "Spamalot," the musical reworking of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," hit 102% of capacity; "Mamma Mia!" drawing from the ABBA songbook, and "The Lion King" each scored 101%.

Generalizing about why remakes are thriving in the theater while sputtering at the cinema is probably a pointless exercise; success or failure is dependent on the execution of specific projects.

But Broadway does have one weapon in its arsenal that Hollywood lacks: Under the banner of the LATP, Broadway producers have banded together to promote Broadway theatergoing. It launched a multilingual Web site to lure foreign tourists, sponsors walking tours of Manhattan's theater district and talks up theatergoing at tourism trade shows. Meanwhile, New York's nonprofit Theatre Development Fund offers discount tickets at its TKTS booth in Times Square and South Street Seaport. As a result, some theatergoers commit to seeing a show even before they figure out what show they want to see.

By contrast, Hollywood spends millions of dollars hawking individual movies, but precious little attention is spent to selling the notion of moviegoing itself.

This summer, pundits have trotted out the usual litany of complaints: Concessions are too expensive, ads are annoying, audiences are rude. All are concerns that need to be addressed, but what is remarkable is that the industry isn't making any effort to sell itself.

Arguably, with the shift to stadium seating, the new generation of multiplexes are better than ever. Multiple screens and staggered start times also have eliminated long lines to get into the biggest blockbusters. But that also means that the lines that once stretched, literally, around the block for movies like "Jaws," "The Exorcist" and the original "Star Wars" are gone -- and with them all the attendant media coverage that was itself a form of free publicity that created a want-to-see.

To lure customers, some theater chains have created loyalty programs, like Regal Cinema's Master Card offering, which rewards users with points redeemable for tickets or concessions. But in the current environment, that doesn't go far enough.

Whether it's the studios, through the MPAA, or the exhibitors, working through NATO, somebody needs to step forward to promote the romance of moviegoing, drawing on the powerful, emotional associations that most moviegoers have with the movies. Potential ticket buyers need to be reminded that moviegoing is a communal experience that can't be duplicated at home, even with the best home entertainment systems. If the film industry doesn't begin to speak up in its own defense, it has only itself to blame as audiences continue to drift away.