Will it be a death race, or a bunny race, at the weekend box office? (You can thank Sony distribution chief Rory Bruer for coming up with that line.)

Universal's testosterone-fueled actioner "Death Race" is looking pretty good; good meaning an opening gross in the mid- to high-teens.

But don't write off Anna Faris topliner "House Bunny," from Sony. Younger gals could drive a better-than-expected opening for the comedy, about a Playboy bunny who becomes a house mother for a sorority. Don't forget that "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" scored a five-day opening of roughly $18 million earlier this month, including a weekend total of $10.8 million. And the Playboy factor could lure members of the opposite sex.

For a full preview of the weekend box office and a wrap on summer, click here.

Here's Alan Horn's letter to fans today on moving the next Harry Potter pic to next year. Warner Bros. probably wishes it had Harry's magic wand to make the whole thing go away, but Potter fans continue to deluge the studio, as well as websites like The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet, with their outrage.

 Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" to Summer 2009.

Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability.

The decision to move "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support.

If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between "Half-Blood Prince" and the much-anticipated first part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which opens in November 2010.

So although we have to wait a little longer for "Half-Blood Prince," the wait from that film until "Deathly Hallows" will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait.

Alan Horn
President, Chief Operating Officer
Warner Bros.

People going more often to the movies this year say it's because of the social experience, according to a new survey from the NPD Group, a market research firm.

Other findings in NPD's "Entertainment Trends in America" reinforce the idea that the film biz tends to do well in tough economic times, since movie tickets are less expensive than other outings, such as sports and theme parks.

NPD's survey of 11,000 people showed that 80 percent of frequent moviegoers plan to see as many films as they did last year, or more.

"Nothing is completely recession-proof, but movies are one of the ultimate social experiences," says NPD Group entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick. "Despite the fact that more Americans now have high-tech entertainment equipment in their homes, nothing beats seeing 'Dark Knight' in a theater." 

For a full look at the report, click here http://www.npd.com/.

Christmas is suddenly looking very merry...if you like crowded.

As of a week ago, there were four wide releases set to open over Christmas. Now, there are six, the latest being Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett starrer "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." That's quite a lot, even for the holiday.

Here are the other five: Adam Sandler comedy "Bedtime Stories," JenniferAniston-Owen Wilson comedy "Marley and Me," Frank Miller's "The Spirit," Forest Whitaker sports drama "The Hurricane" and Tom Cruise Nazi drama "Valkyrie." ("Valkyrie" opens Dec. 26, while the rest bow on Dec. 25.)

"Benjamin Button," directed by David Fincher and based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was set to open one week before Christmas on Dec. 19. 

Late last week, however, the landscape changed when Sony decided to open Will Smith on Dec. 19, instead of Dec. 12. Though very different in feel and appeal, "Seven Pounds" and "Benjamin Button" could compete for female moviegoers. Plus, there's the Will Smith factor, i.e., he's now the world's biggest box office star. Hence, Paramount's decision to move "Benjamin Button."

News about "Seven Pounds" came just as MGM and United Artists announced they will now bow "Valkyrie" on Dec. 26, just in time for awards consideration. Film was to unspool in February.
 
Got it all straight?

Over the weekend, MGM opened Woody Allen's latest pic, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," on behalf of the Weinstein Co. Pic came in No. 10 for the weekend, not bad for a specialty title. But it's far too early to tell how the film will do as it expands into more theaters.

Nevertheless, Harvey Weinstein had this to say:

"Michael Phelps took the gold but we took the silver. This weekend exceeded our expectations and the film is in a position to do terrific business. The great reviews we received across the country calling it a 'funny, sexy, beautiful, end of summer film' helped us."

The silver? 

For full weekend box office coverage, click here.

Will resume posting this coming weekend.

There's several ways to view the great openings of Sony's stoner laffer "Pineapple Express" and Warner Bros.' girl-powered "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2."

1) It was smart for the two studios to open their films on Wednesday. We want to caution, however, that Wednesday is not the new Friday for movie releases, as suggested by the Los Angeles Times. With "The Dark Knight" still playing so strong, both Warners and Sony knew it was questionable whether they could win the weekend, so why not spread the wealth over five days, instead of three.

2) "Pineapple's" boffo bow of $12.1 million on Wednesday seemed to take a bite out of R-rated comedy "Step Brothers," which saw its biggest weekday drop on Wednesday. Oddly enough, "Pineapple" and "Step Brothers" are from the same studio--Sony--and were both produced by Judd Apatow. You'd think Sony and Apatow would want more distance between the two pics. Then again, maybe there was no better time. "Step Brothers" opened to a pleasing $30.9 million on July 25, cuming $70.3 million to date. That's a pretty good gross.

3) Does "Pineapple" have a shot at unseating "Dark Knight" over the weekend? Some say yes, some say no. "Dark Knight" did come in only No. 3 on Wednesday, behind "Pineapple" and "Sisterhood," but that doesnt' really mean much when you're talking about a pic that has grossed $410.8 million in its first 20 days.

Spoiler alert:  Don't read on if you want "Tropic Thunder" to be a surprise.

As you probably know by now, "Tropic Thunder" is about a group of pampered and spoiled actors making a war movie in the jungle, only to stumble upon a real-life drug war.

The character played by Ben Stiller once starred as a "retard"--to quote from the movie--in a film called "Simple Jack." For various reasons, Stiller is forced to reenact his "Simple Jack" role in "Tropic Thunder." It's over-the-top crazy--and funny--and it was bound to offend someone. 

Sometime this morning, DreamWorks and Paramount killed a "Simple Jack" website that was concocted as part of the film's viral marketing campaign. (The picture to the right was downloaded from the site before it was taken down.)

The timing is interesting. The website went black on the eve of a meeting between DreamWorks honchos and advocates of the mentally challenged. Studio will probably stress that "Tropic Thunder" has a singular purpose: To make fun of Hollywood, and of actors. Here's Variety reporter Tatiana Siegel's story about the Simple Jack website. Nothing is ever simple, is it?

It was only last week that Disney pushed back the release of fantasy actioner "Prince of Persia" from June 19, 2009 to Memorial Day 2010, and swapped in Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy "The Proposal."

Two other big studio comedies have now jumped onto that date as well, Fox's Dwayne Johnson starrer "The Tooth Fairy" and Sony's Jack Black-Michael Cera starrer "The Year One," directed by Harold Ramis.

That means the frame is now jam-packed with three laffers looking to take advantage of kids being fully out of school.
 
Also, with "Transformers 2" opening a week later on June 26, each hopes to work as counter-programming.

Even though they're all different--"The Proposal is a rom com, "Tooth Fairy" is aimed at families and "Year One" is of the raunchy, Judd Apatow variety--that's still a lot of laffs all at once.

This just in: Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight" breaks the $400 million mark at the domestic box office in just 18 days, smashing previous record-holder "Shrek 2," which took 43 days to reach $400 million.

"Dark Knight" grossed $6.2 million on Monday, putting it's cume at $400.1 million. Way to go, Batman.

The big question now: Will "Dark Knight" come in No. 1 this weekend for the fourth frame in a row? Or will Sony's Seth Rogen-James Franco stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" be the pic to topple the Batman sequel from the top perch? For a closer look at the race, click here.

Of the two summer pics Brendan Fraser is starring in, most would bet on "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" to do bigger box office biz, and not on 3-D action-adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

If it's not too late, you may want to rethink laying any money down.

"Journey," from New Line and Walden Media, has turned into a sleeper hit domestically, grossing $72.9 million to date. Being able to charge more for 3-D tickets can vastly improve a pic's B.O. grosses, as evidenced by "Journey," which Warner Bros. is distributing. Film is playing only 2,285 runs; of those, about 854 are digital 3-D screens.

It's looking like "Journey" will ultimately gross around $90 million domestically, making it the most successful 3-D title to date. Last fall, 3-D pic "Beowulf" grossed $81.2 million domestically. At the time, there were roughly 650 digital 3-D screens up and running. 

"Dragon Emperor," from Universal, opened to $40.5 million over weekend. That's pretty good, considering it's been 7 years since the last "Mummy" pic played on the bigscreen. At the same time, "Dragon Emperor" could be in for a rough ride if it sees big declines. Word-of-mouth isn't so good for the film, and when there's so much other product out there, led by "The Dark Knight," good word-of-mouth matters, believe me.

All of this is to say that "Journey" and "Dragon Emperor" could end up much closer than anyone predicted in terms of final box office grosses. That's a win-win for at least one person--Brendan Fraser.

Last week, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer announced they are moving back the release of big-budget fantasy adventure "Prince of Persia" by a year, from June 19, 2009 to Memorial Day 2010.
 
It made us ponder what a tricky thing it is to move a film. Invariably, people will say there's something wrong with the production. Maybe there is, and maybe there's not. 

Here's three of the most popular reasons studios give for moving a film:

1) We need more time for post-production and special effects work.

2) We think the movie is so good, that we're moving it.

3) Talent won't be available for pre-release press.

To be fair to studios, sometimes there isn't anything wrong. Perhaps they really do mean what they say. Again, who knows?

"The Dark Knight" may be the biggest and the hippest, but Sony's "Step Brothers" and Universal's "Mamma Mia" are no weekday slouchers.

"Step Brothers" did great this week after bowing to $30.9 million over the weekend. The R-rated Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly comedy raked in $4.6 million on Monday, $4 million on Tuesday and $3.6 million on Wednesday for a cume of $43.2 million.
 
That virtually mirrors "Knocked Up" numbers. That's impressive, considering all the oxygen "Dark Knight" continues to take up.

Never underestimate the appetite for laugher--or for dancing and singing.
 
Some have poo-pooed Meryl Streep topliner "Mamma Mia" as so much fluff, snickering in particular at Pierce Brosnan's performance. They're missing the point, which is, there is room for all kinds of movies, even the feel-good kind. 

This week, "Mamma Mia" continued to hold its own, seeing the slimmest declines of any pic on the top 10 chart (other than 3-D adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which has the advantage of higher-priced 3-D tickets). 

On Monday, "Mamma Mia" made $2.8 million, a decline of 32%. It got better...and better. On Tuesday, it grossed $3.2 million, a decline of 28%. On Wednesday, it dipped just 26% to $3.2 million for a cume of $71.8 million. Musical's weekday numbers bested the second week of Meryl Streep hit "The Devil Wears Prada."

Take that, Batman.

Those visiting the U.S. from other countries are spending more than ever due to the weakened dollar, begging the question--is some of this coin being spent at the American box office?
 
Just today, CNN reported that tourism at Yosemite has never been higher, thanks to the the surge in international guests.The megaplex and multiplex are as much an American icon as Yosemite, not to mention that buying a movie ticket in the U.S. is going to be cheaper than seeing a film back home, at least in many cases. 

According to the Travel Industry Association, the amount of money spent in the U.S. by overseas visitors last year rose by $8.5 billion to $96.5 billion.
 
The majority of international tourists still come from the U.K., Japan and Germany, although there's more and more tourists from Brazil, China and India. Forbes reports that  three of the most popular destinations are restaurants, big cities and historical attractions. Who knows--maybe going to the movies should be added to the list.

Never say never. 

While it was once true that Batman films didn't play so well overseas, that's not the case anymore. If you're looking for some evidence, it's worth reading a pair of stories filed earlier today by Variety London reporter Archie Thomas about "The Dark Knight's" performance over the weekend at the international box office.

"Dark Knight" helped deliver the best weekend of the year at the U.K. box office, while London's BFI Imax theater reported whammo business. Last week, "Dark Knight" held its world preem in London, helping to further stoke interest.