2009 at the Box Office

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

That's almost the opposite of my experience. I saw it yesterday afternoon and there was three people (counting me) in the theater.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Returned.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Speaking of Taken,,some horrible news for Liam Neeson's wife:


March 17) - British actress Natasha Richardson has been hospitalized and is reportedly in critical condition following a skiing mishap while vacationing in Quebec.
The 45-year-old 'Nell' star and wife of Liam Neeson suffered a head injury and was brought to a Montreal hospital for treatment on Monday, PEOPLE and IrishCentral.com are reporting.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Sad news, it looks like she has passed away.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Where did you hear that? Last I heard, she might be brain dead? How terrible.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Apparently she HAS died...how horrible. Fromm CNN.COM

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Friday Estimates

#1 "Knowing" $9.0 million
#2 "I Love You, Man" $6.4 million
#3 "Duplicity" $4.7 million
#4 "Race to Witch Mountain" $3.8 million ($35.5 million) 44% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Watchmen" $2.03 million ($93.4 million) 62% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "The Last House on the Left" $2.00 million ($20.1 million) 65% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Taken" $1.4 million ($130.4 million) 33% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "Slumdog Millionaire" $805K ($135.3 million) 42% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" $795K ($85.5 million) 47% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Coraline" $630K ($71.3 million) 3% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" $570K ($139.8 million) 34% Friday-to-Friday drop
#12 "He's Just Not That Into You" $440K ($90.7 million) 53% Friday-to-Friday drop

"Knowing" got off to a very potent start as it pulled in about $9 million yesterday, and looks headed for a debut weekend haul in the area of $25 million. The same goes for "I Love You, Man", which should tally about $18-$21 million this weekend. "Duplicity" opened a bit softer than expected, but should still earn about $12-$15 million. "Race to Witch Mountain" lost a moderate 44% in its Friday-to-Friday numbers and looks to pass "Duplicity" today and tomorrow on the strength of the family crowd. "Watchmen" rounded out the top five as it once again took a steep percentage hit. The movie should still pass the century mark this weekend though.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

I watched "Duplicity" which is a fine film. I have to wonder how the general public will feel about "Knowing" in comparison to the negative reviews it's receiving?





Crawdaddy

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

"Knowing" may not have strong legs after this weekend, but the movie should end up being a solid performer for Summit Entertainment. They spent around $50 million to make it and they should see a decent return, especially if the film earns solid marks overseas.

As for "Duplicity", Universal is clearly hoping this one will leg its way to a solid haul. The movie has received very solid reviews and the exit polling suggests that it has a great shot at having strong staying power during the coming weeks.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Weekend Estimates

#1 "Knowing" $24.8 million
#2 "I Love You, Man" $18.0 million
#3 "Duplicity" $14.4 million
#4 "Race to Witch Mountain" $13.0 million ($44.7 million) -47%
#5 "Watchmen" $6.7 million ($98.1 million) -62%
#6 "The Last House on the Left" $5.9 million ($24.0 million) -58%
#7 "Taken" $4.1 million ($133.1 million) -37%
#8 "Slumdog Millionaire" $2.7 million ($137.2 million) -46%
#9 "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" $2.5 million ($87.2 million) -51%
#10 "Coraline" $2.1 million ($72.8 million) -21%
#11 "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" $1.9 million ($141.1 million) -40%
#12 "He's Just Not That Into You" $1.3 million ($91.6 million) -57%

Moviegoers spent $97.5 million on the top 12 films as business was about even to last year, but down 18% from this frame in '07. This weekend also marked the first time this year that back-to-back weekends didn't see the top 12 movies top the $100 million mark. This will very likely change next week when "Monsters vs. Aliens" hits theaters.

2009's year-to-date gross now stands at a towering $2.229 billion, representing a 10% increase over last year ($2.027 billion), up 18% compared to '07 ($1.896 billion), 22% stronger than '06 ($1.825 billion), and a 21% improvement over '05 ($1.849 billion).

Summit Entertainment continues to show that they are indeed one of the elite studios in the industry as their sci-fi/thriller "Knowing" topped the box office this weekend with a nearly $25 million tally. The movie earned a solid per-theater average of $7,447 from its 3,332 locations, which was easily the best of the top 12. The $24.8 million haul marks the sixth best opening for Oscar-winning star Nicolas Cage. That number also gave director Alex Proyas the second best of his career, following the $52.2 million launch of "I, Robot" five years ago.

DreamWorks/Paramount's "I Love You, Man" also got off to a great start as it opened with $18 million, giving it an impressive average of $6,641 from its 2,711 theaters. The comedy is expected to have a very healthy run in theaters based on the exit polling, earning an impressive "A" grade.

Universal's "Duplicity" earned a respectable $14.4 million this weekend, earning a per-theater average of $5,595 from its 2,574 theaters. This one also earned a high "A" grade from exits and will likely have very strong legs during the coming weeks.

Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain" lost a moderate 47% of its business this week and has so far tallied just under $45 million. This one is expected to top out in the neighborhood of $75-$80 million, giving star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson another hit to add to his growing resume.

WB/Paramount's "Watchmen" continues to fade fast as it endured a steep 62% decline this weekend. The movie has pulled in more than $98 million thus far. Universal's "The Last House on the Left" took a 58% hit and has now tallied $24 million. This one is expected to end its run with about $35 million. Fox's "Taken" has now earned more than $133 million. Fox Searchlight/WB's Oscar-winner "Slumdog Millionaire" is currently sitting on a domestic haul of $137.2 million.

Lionsgate's "Madea Goes to Jail" has now earned more than $87 million. Focus Features "Coraline" now has nearly $73 million in the bank. Sony's "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" is nearing the $142 million mark. New Line/WB's "He's Just Not That Into You" rounds out the top 12 as it passed the $90 million mark. It has now pulled in $91.6 million.

Next weekend will see DreamWorks/Paramount's "Monsters vs. Aliens", Lionsgate's "The Haunting in Connecticut", and Fox's "12 Rounds" all hit theaters. "Monsters vs. Aliens" is currently expected to blow away the competition next weekend and earn more than $50 million during its debut.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

I saw Watchmen on friday and loved it, a shame it's winding down already at the box office. Who could have predicted that Slumdog Millionaire will be a bigger box office hit than Watchmen? Or that Taken would take off the way it did? Or that I Love You Man starring Paul Rudd would be more popular than "$20 million a movie megastar" Julia Roberts latest er 'blockbuster' Duplicity? To quote William Goldman "no one knows anything!"

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Friday Estimates

#1 "Monsters vs. Aliens" $16.7 million
#2 "The Haunting in Connecticut" $9.6 million
#3 "Knowing" $4.6 million ($36.1 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "I Love You, Man" $4.0 million ($28.4 million) 37% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Duplicity" $2.3 million ($20.4 million) 51% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "12 Rounds" $1.8 million
#7 "Race to Witch Mountain" $1.5 million ($49.2 million) 60% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "The Last House on the Left" $878K ($26.7 million) 55% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Taken" $820K ($135.2 million) 39% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Watchmen" $750K ($101.3 million) 63% Friday-to-Friday drop
#11 "Sunshine Cleaning" $360K ($1.6 million) 97% Friday-to-Friday increase
#12 "Slumdog Millionaire" $320K ($138.5 million) 58% Friday-to-Friday drop

As expected, "Monsters vs. Aliens" had very little trouble dominating the landscape as it earned an opening day haul of close to $17 million. DreamWorks is predicting a debut weekend mark in the neighborhood of $55-$60 million.

"The Haunting in Connecticut" got off to a surprisingly potent start as it tallied close to $10 million on its first day in theaters. Lionsgate is expecting this one to earn between $18-$20 million this weekend.

"Knowing" saw a moderate 49% hit to its Friday-to-Friday numbers, while "I Love You, Man" earned the best hold as it was off by only 37%. "Duplicity" surprisingly suffered a 51% hit in its Friday-to-Friday numbers, but Universal is expect its numbers to improve during the rest of the weekend.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Looks like Watchmen finally cracked $100M sometime mid-week.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Weekend Estimates

#1 "Monsters vs. Aliens" $58.2 million
#2 "The Haunting in Connecticut" $23.0 million
#3 "Knowing" $14.7 million ($46.2 million) -40%
#4 "I Love You, Man" $12.6 million ($37.0 million) -29%
#5 "Duplicity" $7.6 million ($25.6 million) -46%
#6 "Race to Witch Mountain" $5.6 million ($53.3 million) -56%
#7 "12 Rounds" $5.3 million
#8 "Watchmen" $2.8 million ($103.3 million) -60%
#9 "Taken" $2.7 million ($137.1 million) -34%
#10 "The Last House on the Left" $2.6 million ($28.5 million) -55%
#11 "Sunshine Cleaning" $1.3 million ($2.5 million) +100%
#12 "Slumdog Millionaire" $1.1 million ($139.3 million) -58%

Behind the muscle of "Monsters vs. Aliens" the industry enjoyed the second best top 12 finish ever for the month of March as moviegoers shelled out an impressive $137.6 million this weekend. Business was up a whopping 58% compared to last year, as well as being 20% stronger than this period in '07. The studios estimate that about 19 million tickets were sold this weekend. Overall, this is the third biggest weekend of the year as the industry continues to enjoy record-setting business.

2009 has now earned a stellar $2.407 billion domestically, marking a 10% improvement over last year ($2.184 billion), up 16% over '07 ($2.070 billion), 22% stronger than '06 ($1.968 billion), and 20% better than '05 ($2.000 billion).

DreamWorks/Paramount's "Monsters vs. Aliens" earned the biggest opening mark of the year thus far, as well as giving DreamWorks Animation the 12th best opening ever for an animated movie.

BIGGEST OPENINGS FOR ANIMATED FEATURES
$50 milion-plus
#1 "Shrek the Third" (DreamWorks) $121.6 million
#2 "Shrek 2" (DreamWorks) $108.0 million
#3 "The Simpsons Movie" (Fox) $74.0 million
#4 "The Incredibles" (Pixar) $70.5 million
#5 "Finding Nemo" (Pixar) $70.3 million
#6 "Ice Age: The Meltdown" (Fox) $68.0 million
#7 "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" (DreamWorks) $63.1 million
#8 "Wall-E" (Pixar) $63.1 million
#9 "Monsters, Inc." (Pixar) $62.6 million
#10 "Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks) $60.2 million
#11 "Cars" (Pixar) $60.1 million
#12 "Monsters vs. Aliens" (DreamWorks) $59.3 million
#13 "Toy Story 2" (Pixar) $57.4 million

These films also represent the only animated flicks to open north of the $50 million plateau as well. "Monsters vs. Aliens" was also able to earn the third best debut ever for the month of March behind "300" ($70.9 million) and "Ice Age: The Meltdown" ($68.0 million). The animated comedy pulled in a stellar per-theater average of $14,181 from its massive 4,104 sites, which was easily the best of the top 12. Based on the movie's impressive 45% Friday-to-Saturday jump in business, DreamWorks is extremely confident that this one is going to go on to become one of the year's bigger hits.

Lionsgate's "The Haunting in Connecticut" got off to a much stronger start than anticipated as it opened with an impressive $23 million. The horror flick earned the second best launch of the year thus far for its genre, trailing the $40.6 million debut of the "Friday the 13th" remake. 'Haunting' tallied a very strong average of $8,422 from its 2,732 locations. While the movie probably won't have very strong legs, Lionsgate is going to see a very nice return on this one.

Summit Entertainment's "Knowing" enjoyed a moderate decline of 40% this weekend and has so far tallied just over $46 million. The studio estimates that the film will go on to earn a final domestic mark in the area of $70-$80 million, giving Summit a very solid hit.

DreamWorks/Paramount's "I Love You, Man" was off by only 29% this weekend and is now sitting on a domestic mark of $37 million. Look for this one to also top out in the neighborhood of $70 million.

Universal's "Duplicity" was off a moderate 46% (a little higher than the studio expected) and has now earned close to $26 million. This one should end its run with about $40 million. Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain" was clearly hurt by the opening of "Monsters vs. Aliens" as it suffered 56% dip in business this weekend. Still, the movie passed the $50 million plateau and still looks headed for a $70 million finish.

Fox's "12 Rounds" crashed and burned this weekend as it was only able to tally $5.3 million this weekend, marking only a $2,274 average from its 2,331 theaters. This adds to the growing list of box office disappointments headlined by WWE wrestlers. So far, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the only (former) WWE superstar to become a major movie star.

WB's "Watchmen" continues its free-fall as it was off by another 60% this weekend. The movie was able to pass the century mark, but will still need to do big business overseas (and on home video) if it is going to yield a profit.

Fox's "Taken" has now earned $137 million. Universal's "The Last House on the Left" has so far tallied $28.5 million. Overture's "Sunshine Cleaning" entered 103 more theaters this week, bringing its total to 167 locations, and saw business improve by 100%. The movie earned a per-theater average of $8,048, which was the third best of the top 12 behind 'Monsters' and 'The Haunting'. The film will expand to 500 total locations next weekend. Fox Searchlight/WB's "Slumdog Millionaire" rounds out the top 12 as it is now sitting on a domestic haul of just over $139 million.

Next weekend marks the beginning of the April session of business. Universal will release "Fast & Furious" and Miramax will launch "Adventureland". "Fast & Furious" should put up a very strong challenge to "Monsters vs. Aliens" for the top spot.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

When will studio's get that 99% of the time, it has NOTHING to do with the stars they put in the film. If the movie doesn't look good, people won't go: point blank.

"Studio Experts" consistently predict bigger openings because it has a Tom Cruise or a Julia Roberts or even Will Smith.

Take a look at Seven Pounds. Will Smith movies have always been percieved as "sure fire blockbusters". Seven Pounds opened to $16m its first weekend, under Yes Man, & went on to gross a little over $60m. There may be a small percentage that just went to see it because its Will Smith. But most people didnt go because the trailers/ marketing, etc just didn't click with them. They had no interest.

Then you have a movie like Superbad, or Slumdog that has virtually no stars & goes on to make a killing.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Stars matter only when they still represent what audiences want, in the genres audiences enjoy them in. This is part of why Hollywood ditches actresses as leads much earlier than it ditches actors. Many within the industry decry ageism, but the ageism is coming from the audiences. Julia Roberts a decade ago would have probably brought in a bigger B.O. take, and Julie Roberts today in another traditional rom-com would have probably brought in a bigger B.O. take.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Wow, If only you had told them sooner!

I'm not sure if "complicated" is the word I'm looking for, but there's certain proof behind box office draw. Will Smith (who's been the #1 B.O. star for quite some time now BTW) and the film's producers knew going in that "Seven Pounds" would be more of a risk than a summer blockbuster, and it didn't really pay off. I'm sure, like with "The Pursuit of Happiness," his salary reflected this.

That doesn't mean that the film would have still made 60 million with an unknown in the lead, nor would something like the poorly reviewed "Hancock" do 200+ million without Smith's personality to sell it on.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

"Seven Pounds" made $70 mil domestically and close to $98 million overseas, giving it a worldwide haul of nearly $168 million. As Zack pointed out, everyone pretty much knew going in that "Seven Pounds" wouldn't be a hit the size of "Hancock", and with a cost of about $55 million, the studio was happy with how it turned out. Did they want more? Of course. Will it go down as a Smith misfire? No it won't.

I do get what Jay is driving at though. Stars like Smith, Cruise, Roberts, and Hanks are supposed to get us moviegoers into the theaters on opening weekend. After that (in a perfect world) the material should sell itself and garner more repeat viewing. For the studios, big named stars have been a safety net for decades and that will (likely) always be the case.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

even the big stars are turning into Bruce Willis

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Terry-

Rarely do you need correcting, but some notes on your animated movie launch:

Wall-E opened with 63M (not on your list)

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

I also missed "Kung Fu Panda" and the 'Madagascar' sequel. Thanks for alerting me to my mistake. I listed last year's list prior to the releases of those three flicks. It has been corrected.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

I think it's almost entirely BECAUSE of Smith that Seven Pounds did as well as it did. The marketing campaign was weak - it left you with very little idea what the film was about. I actually don't blame the ad people; you can't spell out too much about the story without giving away spoilers, so that film had to be a nightmare to market.

Nonetheless, there was little onto which audiences could hang their hats. You put almost anyone OTHER than Will Smith in it and it makes about 47 cents.

So in that case, I think he was worth whatever money he made...

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Woohoo! Watchmen passed the $100m mark! $170.5m worldwide so far.

Oh well anyway it's the top grossing Alan Moore adaptation in the US, followed by V for Vendetta $70.5 ($132.5m worldwide), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen $66.4m ($179.2 worldwide) and From Hell $31.6m ($74.5m worldwide)

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Weekend Actuals

#1 "Monsters vs. Aliens" $59.3 million
#2 "The Haunting in Connecticut" $23.0 million
#3 "Knowing" $14.7 million ($46.2 million) -40%
#4 "I Love You, Man" $12.7 million ($37.1 million) -29%
#5 "Duplicity" $7.7 million ($25.8 million) -45%
#6 "Race to Witch Mountain" $5.8 million ($53.5 million) -55%
#7 "12 Rounds" $5.3 million
#8 "Watchmen" $2.73 million ($103.3 million) -60%
#9 "Taken" $2.70 million ($137.1 million) -34%
#10 "The Last House on the Left" $2.6 million ($28.5 million) -54%
#11 "Sunshine Cleaning" $1.3 million ($2.5 million) +90%
#12 "Slumdog Millionaire" $1.2 million ($139.3 million) -57%

The top 12 pulled in a record-setting $139 million, marking the best top 12 finish ever for the month of March.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Um...wow.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...-opening-ever/

FRIDAY PM: The heated-up domestic box office just got even hotter... The lesson is that Hollywood should never underestimate moviegoers' tolerance for retread material. Even Universal knew when they announced a 4th installment of their worn-out street racing franchise that everyone else would say there was no life left. But they got the original 2001 cast together and made a true sequel that picks up the Fast & Furious story where it left off in The Fast And The Furious. ("New Model... Original Parts".) The result today was a $28 million haul from 3,461 theaters for an unexpectedly humongous opening weekend of possibly $65M. (And that's not even counting the Thursday midnight showings which I'm told made $1.8M.) That's a whopping 1/3 more than the studio thought possible, and the biggest April opening ever by a mile (previous best was Anger Management's $42M in 2003). This just doesn't happen like this, folks: Hollywood is in total shock tonight. Rival execs are guessing $75M for the weekend.

What's interesting is the movie that launched Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez is now saving their careers since Vin and Paul have been in a succession of film flops, while Michelle's arrests could have lost her the Lost gig. They were directed by Justin Lin, who helmed The Fast And The Furious threequel Tokyo Drift -- which also was written by Fast & Furious scripter Chris Morgan. And producer Neal Moritz produced all four in the franchise. Fast & Furious also opened day and date in 32 overseas markets, and it looks to have made in excess of $20M.

The No. 2 film that was last week's top pic, DreamWorks Animation's Monsters v Aliens, hung on for $9.2 million today, down only 45% from a week ago. The 3-D toon playing in a total 4,109 venues could take in as much as $37M this weekend for a fresh cume of $107M. In case you didn't notice, that's $110M at the box office just between #1 and #2 -- when last year's total was $90M all in. Total FSS will be $165+M, up a staggering 80+% from last year. (No wonder movie moguls don't want anyone knowing how much their studios are raking in the dough in this financial recession. Hard to argue they're having it as tough as everyone else, no?)

The other openers this weekend are Miramax's teen comedy Adventureland which made $2 million Friday for what should earn $6M from 1,862 venues. The question is whether the Twilight girls turned out for Kristin Stewart. And Overture Releasing has put R-rated Sunshine Cleaning into 479 dates.

Here is Friday's Top 5:
1. Fast & Furious (Universal) OPENER [3,461] Fri $28M, Wkd $65M
2. Monsters v Aliens (DWA/Par) Week 2 [4,109] Fri $9.2M, Wkd $35M, Cume $107M
3. Haunting In Conn (LG) Week 3 [2,732] Fri $3.7M, Wkd $9.5M, Cume $28.5M
4. I Love You, Man (DW/Par) Week 3 [2,829] Fri $2.7M, Wkd $8.9M, Cume $50.2M
5. Knowing (Summit) Week 3 [3,323] Fri $2.6M, Wkd $8.8M, Cume $58.6M

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Wow! I thought it would be lucky if it hit $50mil. Does it seem like this is the opening summer movie weekend? Each year it gets pushed a week or two back. I remember when summer movie season started on Memorial Weekend, but with big movies like Shrek, Spiderman, and Iron Man getting early May releases, it won't be long before summer movie season starts on Valentines Day.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

not seen any of the fast and furious movies and I sort of want to see this one. It's had a terrific advertising campaign and it looks like the sort of dumb kinetic fun that's been missing from the theatres for a while (since Taken, which was smart kinetic fun).

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

Friday Estimates

#1 "Fast & Furious" $30.1 million
#2 "Monsters vs. Aliens" $8.9 million ($81.1 million) 47% Friday-to-Friday drop
#3 "The Haunting in Connecticut" $3.7 million ($31.4 million) 62% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "I Love You, Man" $2.74 million ($44.2 million) 31% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Knowing" $2.70 million ($52.7 million) 42% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "Adventureland" $2.2 million
#7 "Duplicity" $1.4 million ($29.5 million) 40% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "Race to Witch Mountain" $970K ($56.0 million) 36% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "12 Rounds" $850K ($7.6 million) 53% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Sunshine Cleaning" $580K ($3.5 million) 60% Friday-to-Friday increase
#11 "Taken" $520K ($138.4 million) 37% Friday-to-Friday drop
#12 "The Last House on the Left" $450K ($29.9 million) 49% Friday-to-Friday drop

"Fast & Furious" got off to a monstrous start during its opening day, coming in well ahead of Universal's most optimistic predictions. The movie pulled in a whopping $30 million, easily giving it the biggest opening day mark of the year thus far, as well as the largest first-day tally ever for an April release. The movie looks headed for a debut weekend haul of more than $70 million, easily besting 2003's "Anger Management" for the crown of biggest April opener in history. That film opened to the tune of $42.2 million. "Fast & Furious" will give stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker the biggest opening mark of their respective careers.

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

When The Matrix came out in March 1999, I thought that sort of signalled a NEW really early start to summer. Granted, I don't think anyone expected it to be such a big hit, so I don't think this was a "let's start summer in March!" movement, but it DID show studios that they could make big bucks with "summer blockbuster" kinds of flicks while in the early part of spring...

Re: 2009 at the Box Office

They can make big bucks in ANY MONTH OF THE YEAR if they put out a film lots of people want to see. The only reason months like September and January are known as "dumping grounds" is because the studios release only crap films during those months that no one usually wants to see.

That studio execs continue to stubbornly cling to the idea that "big" movies can only succeed in summer or during the holiday season is total B.S. Why they insist on cannibalizing each other's tentpoles over the short summer season continues to be a mystery to me.

Spread them out and moviegoers will spread the wealth.