Is global warming good for Hollywood?

That’s the question posed by the industry’s trade newspaper, Variety, to help explain why this summer did such boffo box-office biz:

Extreme heat and heavy rain across large swaths of the U.S. sent more people to theaters, looking for relief. The onset of the extreme weather — record-breaking temperatures in the western U.S., rain up and down the Eastern seaboard, the Midwest and Texas — started at the end of June, just as the box office was starting to see a bump. “You went from dreadful heat to downpours,” [Bruce] Snyder [Fox's president of distribution] says. “Historically, we’ve seen a bounce in grosses when the weather is bad. Also, when kids can’t go outside, and make their parents nuts, they send them to the movies.”

Extreme weather = extreme profits. If Variety says it’s true, who can disagree? And global warming causes extreme weather, as many studies have shown

Hmm, if we fail to take action on global warming, are we doomed to an endless stream of sequels: “Spiderman 15,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At Climate’s End,” and “The Bourne Truth”?

I guess this means all those Hollywood stars promoting climate action are actually working against their own best interest — who knew they were so altruistic!