AS THE 2010 summer movie season comes to an end, Hollywood hopes to have learned a few lessons for the future. Even though the movie industry had a record-setting season with $4.35 billion at the summer box office, there were fewer paying customers, with attendance down by approximately 3% from last year. So what caused this contradiction? 3-D animation. With its higher ticket pricing, 3-D may have boosted overall summer take, but it can’t necessarily take credit for getting more tickets sold. Even with economic woes, the decline in ticket buyers indicates consumers are turning to other options for their entertainment, including video games, Internet content and alternate ways of watching movies (DVD rentals and digital distribution). Nonetheless, “Toy Story 3,” the summer’s highest-grossing film, was available in 3-D with more than half of its box office coming from 3-D ticket sales. Four of the other top ten summers films were 3-D too. Of course, the biggest fear is that this is a one-time bump. If the public’s appetite for 3-D begins to wane because of the higher price or general disinterest with the 3-D experience, both box office and tickets sold would…well, let’s not go there just yet. The summer is only responsible for about 40% of the entire year’s gross. That leaves almost four months to turn things around for Hollywood’s bottom line but also to entertain movie lovers.

Looking ahead, here’s a sample of fall 2010’s earlier releases. Expect to hear lots more about many films as they make their debut at some the year’s biggest films festivals (Venice, Toronto and Telluride) and launch their quest for Oscar gold.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: The sequel to the 1987 Oscarwinner, Michael Douglas stars again and is joined by Josh Brolin (“Milk”). Douglas’ iconic character, Gordon Gekko, is released from prison, tries to connect with his daughter (“An Education’s” Carey Mulligan) who is dating a slick trader (Shia LaBeouf of “Indiana Jones 4”). Oliver Stone directs.

The Town: Starring and directed by Oscar winner Ben Affleck, follows a bank robber who must choose between his dead-end life and a new life that includes a great woman (Rebecca Hall from “Vicki Cristina Barcelona”). The film also stars John Hamm (“Mad Men”) and “The Hurt Locker’s” Jeremy Renner.

The Social Network: Also dubbed the “The Facebook Movie,” it tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder - warts and all - as it tracks his rise to world domination. Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland”) stars and David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) directs.

Buried: star Ryan Reynolds (“The Proposal”) finds himself trapped in a coffin with a cigarette lighter and a fading cell phone. Reynolds received a 15-page impassioned letter from the Spanish director, Rodrigo Cortes, and then signed on.