Less sequels for 2008. That is somewhat of a good news for those of you (including me) who are already tired of having to watch sequels and three-quels. Not that it is bad, in fact, some of them are good and is part of the entire story (Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter 5 - though i personally thought it sucked) but it does get boring sometimes .

However, another problem filmmakers are trying to avoid are the large number of big-shot movies that are scheduled for a head-on collision. This includes films like “Speed Racer” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in late May, and “Get Smart” and Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru” later in June.

That is why, studio executives will shift date to avoid these problems.

There are only two pure sequels skedded at this point: Disney-Walden’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” skedded for May 22, and Warner Bros.’ Batman follow-up “The Dark Knight,” set to unspool July 18.

The upside: Summer 2008 will give studios a chance to birth new franchises, as well as resurrect once-lucrative properties.

Still, it could prove hard for the film biz to match the record-breaking domestic box office of summer 2007, which crossed the $4 billion mark for the first time and saw four titles cross the $300 million mark in a historic display of power: “Spider-Man 3,” “Pirates of Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Shrek the Third” and robot actioner “Transformers - wherein it is the only non-sequel.”

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