• by Wayne Friedman , May 24, 2019

Heading into the big summer movie season, starting with the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, national TV advertising spending for films over the last four weeks is 50% higher over the same period a year ago.

National TV spending is at $219.2 million, according to iSpot.tv -- up 58% for the same month period leading into Memorial Day weekend in 2018, which is at $139.8 million.

Biggest spenders for this period so far are Universal Pictures, at $49.1 million; Warner Bros. with $27.8 million; Lionsgate at $25.7 million; Walt Disney at $22.4 million; and Paramount Pictures with $14.1 million.

Highest individual movie spenders over the past four weeks include Disney’s “Aladdin” at $21.9 million.

After this comes: Universal’s “The Secret Life of Pets 2”, $18.8 million; Lionsgate’s “John Wick:Chapter 3 -- Parabellum, $17.8 million; Universal’s “A Dog’s Journey,” $17.4 million; Paramount’s “Rocketman,” $14.0 million; and 20th Century Fox “Dark Phoenix,” $13.2 million

Typically, movie companies ramp up media and marketing efforts four to five weeks before release.

To date, the biggest movie in terms of box office this year is Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame,” with $779.4 million in U.S. box-office revenue ($1.8 billion worldwide).

During the recent month, Disney spent $9.1 million in national TV advertising on the film and $24.5 million overall. The movie, which is still in theaters, was released on April 26.

Earlier, Disney released another Marvel-themed movie, “Captain Marvel,” the second-biggest U.S. movie of the year so far, with $425.4 million in box-office revenue. Disney spent $37.6 million in overall national TV advertising.