Big crowds for “Happy Feet,” “Casino Royale” and the new Denzel Washington thriller “Deja Vu” propelled Hollywood to a solid holiday weekend, helping the industry maintain its box-office upswing from 2005, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Last year, Hollywood was bemoaning a 5% drop in revenue and the third straight annual decline in attendance. Analysts and industry executives fretted about competition from DVDs, video games and other new choices in entertainment.

But this year, studios are well on their way to pumping out a record number of movies. The array of titles is one reason attendance and grosses are running ahead of a year ago as the industry enters the year-end stretch.

“The breadth of offerings is impressive,” said Chuck Viane, Walt Disney Co.’s president of distribution. “I think the holiday season is going to surprise people.”

This weekend, the animated penguin musical “Happy Feet” danced away with the top spot again for a second week.

And thanks to a range of hits, industrywide ticket sales were off only a smidgen from the same weekend a year ago, when the blockbuster “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” fueled a huge box-office turnout.

Year to date, box-office revenue is up 5.5% and attendance has climbed 3.9%.

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