STUDIO SPOTLIGHT The year for Twentieth Century Fox was anchored by the summer season. Outside of that warm weather period it was another ho-hum year, but the summer saw some incredible results for the studio. Overall grosses came in at $722M for an 10.7% market share. While the total was close to those of Sony and Warners, Fox achieved it with far fewer releases - 12 versus 20 each for the rival studios. Plus, more importantly, moderately-budgeted movies raked in tons of cash giving Fox immense profits.

In the early months of 1998, Fox saw decent returns from a pair of films aimed at young women. Great Expectations and The Object of My Affection grossed $26.3M and $29.1M respectively. Then summer sizzled with the comedies There's Something About Mary ($175M) and Doctor Dolittle ($144.1M) as well as Ever After ($65.6M), Hope Floats ($60.1M), and the long-awaited The X Files Movie ($83.9M) which should spawn some sequels in the future.

Fox's only post-summer wide release, the Denzel Washington-Bruce Willis thriller The Siege, disappointed with a $40M domestic take. The studio's other films from 1998 included Firestorm ($8.1M), The Newton Boys ($10.3M), Bulworth ($26.4M), How Stella Got Her Groove Back ($37.7M), and the end-of-year war film playing in limited release The Thin Red Line.