A summer of sequels and remakes: 'Fantastic Four,' 'Superman,' 'Lilo and Stitch' among box office winners

CNN —

Many of Hollywood's summer hits have shared one common formula, no matter what the genre: They are either remakes, sequels or part of a franchise.

The strategy has mostly worked, as the domestic box office has effectively rebounded from a slow first quarter, grossing $3.26 billion since the first Friday of May, when Comscore, which collects ticketing data, begins tracking the summer season.

The summer kicked off with a record Memorial Day weekend behind Disney's live-action remake of "Lilo & Stitch" and the eighth installment of "Mission: Impossible," with some industry analysts branding the duo as "Stitchpossible." "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" pulled in nearly $200 million at the domestic box office, but "Lilo & Stitch" has been the star of the summer sea