Action (Daily Break‪)‬

Explosions, matchmaking, laughs and lots of popcorn are on the way as the summer of 2009 at the movies makes an all-out effort to help us forget our troubles and, c'mon, get happy. Times are tense, but the movie studios are entering the prime season with a head start that has been amazing to watch. So far, 2009 has set attendance records in theaters - and many of those tickets were for unheralded movies that were expected to be ignored ("Taken," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," anything with Nicolas Cage). Attendance and ticket sales are up anywhere from 17 percent to 20 percent over last year, depending on who does the counting, suggesting that movies are recession-proof - even if a popcorn and soda did cost me $12 the last time out. (Can't you get a rib-eye steak for that price somewhere?).