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Remember the box office slump of 2005? Betcha no one in Hollywood cares to right now. It may seem like an eon ago to all you kids who think the first High School Musical is an example of an all-time classic, but for a while the term "box office slump" was as pop culture as "Britney's a trainwreck." As tentpole flops began to pile up, people started to declare that the end of going to the movies was upon us. Some blamed on-demand and flat-screen TVs. Others claimed it was rampant piracy. But the most popular reason studios referenced? The movies just stunk. That's hard to argue, considering some of the flops that raised the initial red flags. Just to name a few, we had Bewitched, The Island, Stealth and King Kong (I know it's hard to admit, Lord of the Rings fans. We all wanted it to be great, but it's time to come out of the closet of cinematic denial).

Regardless of what you chose to believe, the media made one thing clear. The time of $12.50 tickets (no joke, I'm in NYC) and $17 popcorn was at an end. If you think I'm exaggerating about the scale of this hysteria, google "2005 box office slump." The media was shouting doomsday so loudly it's a wonder Jerry Bruckheimer, Steven Spielberg and Christian Bale didn't rally a torch-waving mob and wreak havoc across the country, literally forcing people out of their houses and into the multiplex. For the record, this probably would have worked. If Christian Bale showed up at my house waving a pitchfork I'd probably do what he wanted.

But now that Valentine's Day, Percy Jackson and The Wolfman have proven that President's Day is the new Memorial Day (do people just like to watch movies during celebrations of patriotism? Is Veterans Day next?), all the apocalyptic prophecies appear to have been a little over zealous. Just as the movie industry didn't crumble at the advent of television in the 1950s, so too did it hold strong in the face of the Internet, piracy and Home theatre systems of the 21st century.

So, how did they pull off this stunning turn around? The range of explanations is as varied as the proposed causes of the initial downturn. One is the economy. Going to a movie is cheaper that doing a lot of things for two hours, not to mention being a reliable means of escapism from the everyday stress of tough times. The same was true during the Great Depression - which I hear was greatly depressing. The movie industry was one of the only businesses not affected and in fact continued to grow throughout the 1930s.

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