Among the year-end movie surveys bombing the landscape, few offer as rewarding a reality check as the one recapping 2008 as the Year of the Sucker.

A New York Times report acknowledged over the weekend that, yes, those phenomena still glowing on the horizon in your rearview mirror are no less newsworthy than they were when they exploded months ago. The Dark Knight's $500 million-plus windfall indeed helped Warner Bros. handily earn a record box-office market share in 2008, and Twilight's $168 million take since Nov. 21 remains nothing short of a hormonally, follically fueled sensation.

But there's a terrible truth concealed beneath the money bags, and it involves the clown-shod ghost of Robin Williams (among others):

It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to Twilight, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what?

Patch Adams, the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of George of the Jungle, which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits.

Aft