Now Playing and Playing

[atma]

and Playing.....

 

And for those who found the news of the week, and the year, something to forget, the movies proved to be a popular escape.

Industry sources estimate that Americans will have flocked to theaters 1.5 billion times by year's end, the most since 1959.

That helped generate $9 billion in studio revenues and renewed hope for struggling exhibitors.

One psychologist credited the news as much as Hollywood marketing muscle, noting that after 9/11, "the real world is probably more terrifying than Americans have ever known."

Pass the popcorn.