Studios have been given a welcome surprise this summer: a possible record boxoffice season that is projected to pass the $4 billion mark after this weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The summer produced three $300 million films in a nonstop run of hits launched by the $102 million opening-frame performance of Iron Man over the first weekend in May. By month’s end, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was on a similar path, while July produced the season’s hugest hit: The Dark Knight, which soon rocketed past an amazing $300 million.

With the boxoffice season about to conclude on Labor Day, summer 2008 finds itself in a photo-finish race that could produce yet another record domestic gross.

Summer 2008 interesting facts:

-This summer featured six $200 million-plus domestic performers versus seven a year earlier.

--Three of the top 10 were sequels and a fourth — The Incredible Hulk — was a franchise do-over; six sequels figured among the top summer rankings last year.

--Four of the top 10 summer films featured superheroes, and five were based on comics or graphic novels; Spidey was 2007’s sole superhero.

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