The star movie of this summer movie season was definitely "The Dark Knight.” The Christopher Nolan-directed superhero movie did way much better than anticipated as it passed the $500 million milestone and settled around $505 million.

As for the 2008 summer movie season, despite the fact that it included the second-biggest Hollywood movie and the ticket prices were sky-high, it wasn’t all that great. The declining attendance and the lack of a blockbuster to close the summer made Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo say:

"The summer is ending with a whimper. The movies aren't there. The slate is rather weak at this point."

The ticket prices may have went up, but the demand followed the economic laws and declined 3.5%. About 580 million tickets were sold this summer season, the least in eight years. The ticket prices went up and topped $7 on nationwide average for the first time ever.

Nevertheless, a successful block-buster launched near the end of the summer would have turned the movie season into a success, but, as Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock said, "After The Dark Knight, it was pretty limp."

"Without it [The Dark Knight], things would have been a lot worse," Gray said.

Superhero movies such as "Hancock," "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" made about 30% of the $4.13-billion gross reported this summer season. Last year the industry cashed in $4.16 billion during the same period.

Some of this summer’s movies are still drawing crowds. Among them is, of course, “The Dark Knight,” followed by the ABBA musical "Mamma Mia!" which cashed in $132.9 million. Meanwhile, "Tropic Thunder" is still No.1 as it gathered about $14.3 million.