Nothing really worth noting although this looks like it will be another slow weekend with Will Ferrell's getting less theaters than we originally expected and the recent announcement of New Line merging with Warner Bros. might be an omen for how Time Warner thinks their big spring movie will do this weekend. Sony's period drama The Other Boleyn Girl and the romantic fantasy Penelope will probably do slightly better only because there's very little else to see but we probably can't expect anything too impressive from any of the movies.

Updated Predictions -

1. Semi-Pro (New Line) - $31.1 million N/A (down $1.6 million)

2. Vantage Point (Sony) - $13.0 million -44% (up .5 million)

3. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon) - $8.9 million -32%
(same)

4. Jumper (20th Century Fox) - $6.5 million -49% (up .1 million)

5. The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony) - $5.4 million N/A (up .5 million and one spot)

6. Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone/Disney) $5.2 million -46% (up .1 million, down 1 spot)

7. Juno (Fox Searchlight) $3.8 million -11% (same)

8. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $3.7 million -44% (same)

9. Penelope (Summit) - $3.3 million N/A (up .4 million and one spot)

10. Definitely, Maybe (Universal) - $3.0 million -40% (down .2 million and one spot)

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, where the month of February ends with an extra day thanks to Leap Year, and another guaranteed #1 movie as Will Ferrell takes on basketball in the '70s retro-comedy Semi-Pro (New Line) along with a great supporting cast including Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, Maura Tierney, and Will Arnett. The key difference between this and other Ferrell comedies is that it's his first R-rated wide release since his breakout performance as Frank the Tank in Old School, which might keep some of Ferrell's younger teen fans from seeing it. Then again, Ferrell has plenty of 17 and older male fans who'll probably dig seeing him in this sort of sports vehicle. The question is whether his first movie for New Line since Elf, his biggest movie to date, will match or best his 2007 sports comedy Blades of Glory.

Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson co-star in the period drama The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony) about two of the six wives of King Henry the VIII (here played by Eric Bana). Based on the popular book by Phillipa Gregory, its main appeal will be to women over 25, an audience who's fairly neglected right now, though only opening in just over a thousand theaters will keep it on the outskirts of the Top 5.

It's that time of year again and after months of build-up and predictions, it's time to put up or shut up as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces their film awards in 25 categories, some which have already been decided by the consensus of critics, pundits and journalists who think they know how things will go...and frankly, even yours truly has some doubts about his predictions considering how many variables are involved this year. Regardless, I'm here all night, talking about the show as it airs and kibbitzing with anyone who wants to chat during the awards, cheer the winners, boo the Academy's errors, etc.

Tip: Comments on this blog seem to not be working, so the best way to follow along if you want to comment is to have two browser windows open, one with this page, which you can refresh to see when new things are added on my part (since they'll be at the top), and another with this page for posting comments. Hope this helps and please feel free to post questions if you're having any problems.

Once the show begins, I'll keep a running tally of winners at the top of the blog below the jump for those checking in late and then my posts will start with the newest ones at the top.

Not too much has changed since Tuesday, just a bit of reshuffling of the drop-offs from President's Day weekend, although it still looks like Charlie Bartlett and Larry the Cable Guy's Witless Protection will be fighting it out for bomb-o'-the-week with neither looking good to make it into the Top 10. There's definitely interest in Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind among young dudes, although opening in just 808 theaters could limit how far it might go and the Top 5 might be too high for it to reach. Sony's Vantage Point is still going to be well ahead of everything else on Friday and for the weekend, though it might have a significant drop-off on Sunday for the Oscars. Certainly, the lack of strong reviews won't help the movie do a huge amount of business this weekend but still bring in the curious.

Oh, one late addition: the concert movie U2 3D expands from 40 theaters to 678 theaters tomorrow, but it will still probably end up outside the Top 10 with roughly $2 million.

Updated Predictions -

1. Vantage Point (Sony) - $21.8 million N/A (up .5 million)

2. Jumper (20th Century Fox) - $14.0 million -49% (down .1 million)

3. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon) - $12.5 million -35% (up .7 million)

4. Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone/Disney) - $8.6 million -55% (down 1.1 million)

5. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $7.8 million -41% (up .1 million)

6. Definitely, Maybe (Universal) - $6.0 million -38% (same)

7. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal) - $4.6 million -46% (down .3 million)

8. Be Kind Rewind (New Line) - $4.1 million N/A (up .3 million)

9. Juno (Fox Searchlight) - $3.3 million -30% (up .1 mill.)

10. The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) -$2.8 million -39% (not listed on Tuesday)

11. Charlie Bartlett (MGM) - $2.7 million N/A (up .2 million)

12. Witless Protection (Lionsgate) - $2.4 million N/A (down .1 million)

13 or 14. U2 3D (National Geographic) - $1.9 million 475% (not listed on Tuesday)

Well, I was going to leave things alone with my last predictions in January, because not much has changed in terms of my picks for the Oscars even with a few surprise snubs among the Guilds and somewhat of an about face by the Academy when filling in those last slots.

For instance, Joe Wright's Atonement was snubbed by most of the major guilds making one think it couldn't get a Best Picture nomination, and yet, it still got nominated in a number of categories including Supporting Actress for young Saorsie Ronan and a screenplay nomination, and the only one snubbed was director Joe Wright who many thought was the most deserving of accolades. Don't even get me started on things like Tommy Lee Jones being nominated for his performance in In the Valley of Elah rather than for the Coens' No Country for Old Men. Regardless, I was asked by AOL Moviefone to share my thoughts on the winners so I'll do the same here, and if you're around on Sunday night, please stop by the blog where I'll be posting live commentary and you can laugh at all the picks I got wrong! :)

Greetings and welcome back to the Weekend Warrior where we have a fairly easy no-brainer weekend with just one of the four new movies standing much of a chance at making it into the Top 5. Maybe that's because the ensemble thriller Vantage Point (Sony), starring the likes of Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitaker, is the only movie to be opening in more than 2,000 theatres. In fact, it's opening in over 3,000 theaters with a strong marketing campaign, which should leave it sitting pretty at the #1 spot come Sunday with very little competition from any of the other new or returning movies.

Possibly that's because all the rest of the new movies are opening in fewer than 1,500 theaters, and despite opening in nearly half that amount, Michel (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind) Gondry's new comedy Be Kind Rewind (New Line), starring Jack Black and Mos Def, should fare the best among them as it appeals to a hip young audience looking for quirky laughs and seeing what Gondry does next.

Blue collar comic Larry the Cable Guy has found a niche audience in the South and Midwest, but his latest comedy Witless Protection (Lionsgate) is getting the smallest release so far, showing that the studio might not have as much faith in the comic after last year's Delta Farce bombed. Presumably, the movie will be targeted more towards the area where Larry's fans reside, but that's still not pointing to a very big audience, especially with a much smaller marketing campaign.

Not too many big changes since Tuesday, although the insanely wide release of Paramount's The Spiderwick Chronicles into 3,847 theaters, including IMAX, and with the new Indiana Jones trailer attached to it, I've decided to up my prediction closer to where I had it before I saw tracking numbers for the film (which frankly, is not painting a very pretty picture of it doing much better than last year's The Golden Compass, or even worse). Still, with the extended weekend and being the only strong family/kiddie fare even with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus hanging onto theaters. I'm also adding a little more onto the weekends for Step Up 2 the Streets and the Universal romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, which have been building up buzz over the next few days and could have stronger weekends as alternatives to the action and effects movies.

Updated Predictions (All predictions are for the four-day holiday weekend) -

1. Jumper (20th Century Fox) - $36.2 million N/A (down .1 million) ($7 - 7.5 million on Thursday)

2. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon) - $28.3 million N/A
(up 1.9 million) ($4.5 - 5 million on Thursday)

3. Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone/Disney) - $18.4 million N/A (up .6 million) ($5.5 - 6 million on Thursday)

4. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $15.5 million -28% (same) ($5 million on Thursday)

5. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal) - $12.2 million -25% (same) ($3.5 million on Thursday)

6. Definitely, Maybe (Universal) - $10.3 million N/A (up .7 million) ($3.5 - 4 million on Thursday)

7. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert (Disney) - $6.2 million -41% (same)

8. Juno (Fox Searchlight) - $4.3 million -24% (down .3 million)

9. The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) - $4.0 million -25% (same, though up one spot)

10. 27 Dresses (20th Century Fox) - $3.8 million -29% (down .4 million and one spot)

Greetings and welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, the special Valentine's and Presidents' Day weekend edition, and this might be a difficult weekend to predict with all four wide releases opening one day early to bring in some VD business, some of which might or might not take away from their business over the four-day weekend. In general, there's some strong choices this weekend that will offer something for everyone with only a little overlap, mostly between the two big budget effects movies based on young people's books that will get ultra-wide releases this weekend.

The movie to beat this weekend is the latest project from the filmmakers who introduced Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie, director Doug Liman and writer Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), and their sci-fi action flick Jumper (20th Century Fox) that reunites Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson from the "Star Wars" prequels. With the strongest draw for older boys and men under 25, it's likely to win the weekend with $35 million or more, only held back by the amount of business it might lose to some of the other movies.

Younger fantasy fans might prefer something like The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon), starring Freddie "I've Never Met a Fantasy Film I Didn't Appear In" Highmore, based on the popular young adult books, which will probably be the first choice for families looking for something to take the kids to over the extended holiday weekend. It's less likely to be as frontloaded to Thursday and Friday as Jumper, and it should do enough business over Saturday and Sunday to bring it closer to the $30 million mark with help from its run in IMAX theaters.

Not too many changes from earlier in the week (i.e. yesterday) except that Warner Bros. is giving their romantic action-comedy Fool's Gold a much wider release into over 3,100 theaters, something which pretty much guarantees its placement in the top slot based on tracking and early buzz. Martin Lawrence's Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is looking more and more like it might not find that much of an audience even though second place with over $15 million would still be a good showing for it. With a theater count closer to 1,000, Vince Vaughn's Wild Wild West Comedy Show still has a chance at squeaking into the Top 10, though it might still be too wide.

Updated Predictions -

1. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $24.3 million N/A (up 1 million)

2. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal) - $18.2 million N/A (down .2 million)

3. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds… (Disney) - $15.0 million -52%

4. The Eye (Lionsgate) - $6.3 million -49% (- .2 million)

5. 27 Dresses (20th Century Fox) - $5.1 million -40%

6. Juno (Fox Searchlight) - $4.5 million -35%

7. The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) - $4.2 million -38% (up .1 million)

8. Rambo (Lionsgate) - $3.7 million - 48%

9. Meet the Spartans (20th Century Fox) - $3.5 million -52%

10. Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (Picturehouse) $3.0 million N/A (up .2 million)

For the third or fourth weekend in a row, two movies will be vying for the top spot and this week, you might be able to flip a coin and come up with a winner, but here at the Weekend Warrior, we're going with the reunion of Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in the romantic adventure Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.), which looks like a cross between Romancing the Stone and National Treasure, two easy references that should help bring in a large audience, both male and female, though mostly the over-25 crowd.

It's biggest competition will be the other new movie in wide release, and though Martin Lawrence's latest comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal) will play in 500 fewer theaters, it does have all the elements that will appeal to the African-American audience that won't be as interested in some of the other choices. It should hold up to Fool's Gold in terms of per-theater average, but might fall short due to the smaller theater count and being more frontloaded to Friday.

Disney decided earlier this week to continue their hit concert film Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (Disney) for a second weekend (no surprise there) but with such an exaggerated opening, due to the original announcement of it playing for only a week, it's likely to drop to more realistic levels this weekend, and possibly be greatly hurt by lack of 'tweens who haven't already rushed out to see it.

Possibly in answer to complaints last year about rising ticket prices and the lack of actual venues in the Tribeca area, this year's Tribeca Film Festival just announced that they would be offering nearly half-price tickets for films playing during weekdays and late night screenings, which is a great start at getting people to the lesser-attended screenings and non-premieres in the festival. They also are offering a couple six-ticket packages for $75.00 or $12.50 a ticket, specifically for docs, foreign language films and films in competition, which should help those movies get bigger audiences. For $1,100, you can go to any movie you want and pretty much go and do whatever you want. Might be the best way to go for independently wealthy unemployed filmlovers.

More good news is that they're basing a lot of the screenings and the press lounge in Union Square, which will hopefully make it easier for press to get around and see more movies.

The complete press release is below and check back for more developments for this year's festival as they develop.

Hey, there!

Edward Douglas here to try something a little different this year. As in the past, you can still catch all of the Super Bowl commercials as they become available live online over on CS Trailers and Clips and can then discuss them here or if you have your computer near enough to a TV, you can talk about the commercials live while watching the game. I've deliberately avoided watching any of the commercials that have been posted online beforehand, so I can experience them for the first time the way they were meant to be viewed, while watching the game. (Sadly, I won't be drinking beer and eating junk food and/or pizza to have both hands free for typing.)

I probably won't have too many comments on the game itself. I've spent half my life in New York and the other half in New England, so I really don't have allegiances with either team, and to be honest, I'm more a fan of the kind of football where you actually kick the ball with your feet than the American version. :)

Anyway, over the course of the next few hours, I'll be writing and posting as I have things to say, so make sure to refresh this post/page frequently and feel free to sign up in order to post comments either about my thoughts on the commercials or your own as we watch the game together. (And feel free to comment on the game if you choose to do so, too.)

NOTE: It's suggested that if you're going to comment, keep two browser pages open, one to refresh to read this blog as it's updated with my comments, and another browser page to post comments. Otherwise, as soon as you post and then hit "refresh" or "back" the comment will be posted twice. (Sorry about that... We're using this time before the game to work out the kinks, including the sudden realization that posting my comments chronologically from the bottom to the top will be easier to read for those refreshing.)

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