1999 is only three months old - but already it has been dubbed "the year of the teen movie".

Teen power is most definitely lighting up the American box office.

Not since the mid 1980s when John Hughes made such films as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club has there been so much Hollywood product aimed at the teen crowd.

Over the last few weeks cinemas have been inundated with a barrage of teen movies, and dozens more are on their way.

Cruel Intentions: The latest in a long line of teen movies

Cruel Intentions, an acerbic teen literary adaptation of Stephen Frears acclaimed 1988 movie Dangerous Liasons, has just opened in America.

Two of its stars, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon, are hardly household names - like the cast members of other teen movies they're best known for their work on television.

The "year of the teen movie" started with Varsity Blues, a coming of age Texas football drama starring adolescent heart-throb James Van Der Beek, a regular on the American TV series Dawson's Creek.

Nearly all the new stars of teen movies come from TV, and they seem to drift with effortless ease between the big and small screen.

Varsity Blues kicked off the teen movie year

Varsity Blues was quickly followed by She's All That, a Pygmalion like story set in an upscale California high school, with dewey-eyed stars Freddie Prinze Junior and Rachel Leigh Cook.

Surprisingly, both these teen pictures debuted at number one at the box office, quite a feat for small films with no major stars.

A common formula can be seen in all these new teen pictures.

They rely on a an attractive looking cast, a simplistic plot and a distinctive soundtrack.

What's depressing is that few of these movie rise above the mediocre because they are being produced for the most cynical of reasons : they often bring big profits because their production costs are relatively low.

Titanic was a huge hit with teenage girls

Blame Scream and Titanic for this current glut of adolescent product.

Scream proved there was a huge teen audience for horror films infused with hip references to pop-culture.

The success of Scream spawned a sequel, inspired several imitators and brought attention to a cadre of new teen stars.

Titanic was driven by an astounding repeat business which came largely from teenage girls, and it dramatically demonstrated to Hollywood executives that the teen market was most definitely underserved.

Hence, the current glut of teen films.

In fairness, not all these new films are devoid of content.

I quite liked the soon to be released The Rage: Carrie 2, a sequel to Brian De Palma's 1976 supernatural thriller with teen stars Jason London and British born actress Emily Bergl in the lead roles.

The Rage: Carrie 2 regurgitates common themes

It strays into camp at times, but it can be seen as an intelligent feminist revenge movie. It provides a stinging critique of the brutal male "jock" culture that is pervasive in American high schools.

Emily Bergl, in the title role of Rachel, uses her astounding telekenetic powers to mete out dramatic punishment on all those arrogant males, and complying females, who've played a role in humiliating her.

But The Rage: Carrie 2 isn't uniformly good, and like most teen movies it regurgitates well-worn themes.

It's only March, but already I feel I just can_t stomach another movie set in an American high school where pretty people do dastardly things set to the music of Fat Boy Slim.

Some of these films are entertaining, but the titles are definitely getting worse - future reported teen movie projects include Decampitated, Sucker and Ten Things I Hate About You.

It seems Hollywood is determined to batter us in the coming months with a slew of films highlighting the dysfunctional deeds of American teens.

Tom Brook writes this regular entertainment column exclusively for BBC News Online.

A well-known BBC entertainment correspondent, Tom has lived in New York and travelled extensively in the US for the past 20 years.