According to The Chicago Tribune, Hollywood is expected to pay upwards of $1B dollars in a Summer marketing blitz this year. Tribune staff writer, Claudia Eller says, that despite a sharp decline in consumer spending and DVD sales that have long been the underpinning of the movie business, the studios are about to embark on the costliest summer for movie marketing campaigns they have ever pursued. A dozen big-budget pictures are set to crowd into theaters over the 16-week popcorn-movie season, many with worldwide marketing budgets that will top $100 million.

Do you think that Hollywood is banking on cheap(er) entertainment for a country in the midst of a deep recession–much like the “Golden Years” of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s?