Scott's World -- UPI Arts & Entertainment

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The year 2001 will go down in history for the infamous attack on New York City Sept. 11, but it will be remembered in Tinseltown for the bottom line.

For most of the year Hollywood was in the doldrums due to financial woes that plagued the town for the first 11 months. Movies with big expectations tanked or fell far short of box-office expectations. Studio chiefs, independent producers and exhibitors sang the blues, disturbed that the business had taken a wrong turn and was headed south.

Then the unspeakable events of Sept. 11 made matters worse. Temporarily.

Americans stuck to their TV sets dumbstruck by the tragedies that befell New York City and Washington, D.C. It was a dreadful reality check. People weren't prepared to watch make-believe drama when there was far more horror in actuality. Nor was the country ready for comedy or just plain foolishness from the nation's filmmakers.

But the mood of the nation boomeranged by late November as relief was sought from the terror of the attack. The populace sought escape in movies.

Coincidentally, Hollywood released a flood of exceptionally good, entertaining, worthwhile movies for the annual Academy Award consideration. The confluence of disaster followed by inviting escapism has resulted in the best fiscal year in Hollywood's history.

Producers and theater-owners are still joyfully tossing their caps in the air. For the first time North American box office receipts reached the $8 billion mark in a single year. True, admission prices are up, but six movies topped $200 million in grosses: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "Shrek," "Monsters, Inc.," "Rush Hour 2," and "The Mummy Returns."

The plethora of hits within a month's time was unprecedented. Only 1999 with four $200 million grosses could compare with this drumbeat of success. In that year the biggies were "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," "Toy Story 2," "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "The Sixth Sense."

The carryover into the year 2002 is in full surge. This week "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" at $205.6 million and "Ocean's Eleven" at $151.9 were both on a pace to set new records.

Moviegoing momentum is holding up but bound to drop off now with children returning to school and adults with less free time. Still, such films as "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," "Ali," "Vanilla Sky," "Kate & Leopold," "Amelie," and "Behind Enemy Lines" are demonstrating they have legs.

These and other box-office hits will only be helped by Oscar fever with the Golden Globes Awards fueling interest Jan. 20, followed by the Academy Awards nominations in early February.

While the big "event movies" are making the most noise and news, there are several other films in release that provide serious box-office income for exhibitors. Chief among them are David Lynch's bold and bollixed "Mulholland Drive," "Black Hawk Down," "In the Bedroom," "Gosford Park," "Lantana," "Not Another Teen Movie," "The Focus," "The Shipping News" and "Charlotte Gray."

Still attracting millions are "Imposter," "How High," "I Am Sam," "Ocean's Eleven," many of which have Oscar nomination possibilities.

Sleeper of this end-of-the-year releases is "Iris," an extraordinary love story with a superior cast, including Judy Dench, Jim Broadbent and Kate Winslet.

Moreover, several of 2001's movies have been re-released to help attract patrons to the multiplexes where the heavy hitters also are playing. Among those re-releases are Nicole Kidman's "Moulin Rouge" and "The Others." The feeling among Hollywood cognoscenti is that the tall, slender Kidman is sure to be nominated for best actress in one of those films. She already has been nominated for a Golden Globe.

Another off-beat re-release is "Bridget Jones' Diary," starring Renee Zellweger who has been nominated for a Golden Globe. Not within recent memory have so many rewarding, compelling movies been in release at one time as now, January, 2002.

Unfortunately, they will be gone in early Spring to be replaced by teen-oriented comedies and animated fantasies for kids in time for the annual school break.

That will kick in the cycle of summer flicks of sex, violence and scatological comedy for adolescents that will fill screens until late next fall when awards time rolls around again.

Still, the Winter of 2001/2002 will be remembered as a vintage span of Hollywood filmmaking at its best, providing a carnival of cinematic riches seldom equaled in any era, possibly excepting 1939.

That year, you will recall, offered "Gone With The Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights," "Dark Victory," "Ninotchka," "Of Mice and Men," "Love Affair," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and "Goodbye, Mr. Chips."

Some day, perhaps, this winter will be remembered as one of Hollywood's finest hours.