This film is definitely opening in limited release; however, given its reviews and its international numbers, I expect it to expand wide enough to earn some measure of mainstream success. I would be shocked if it didn't earn at least $1 million, but I wouldn't be as shocked if it hit $40 million. My only concern is its opening weekend. There is a chance the target audience will hesitate going out to the movies during the opening weekend, because they don't want to deal with the crowds going to see The Avengers. Should it open strong, it should have really long legs. And even if it doesn't expand wide here, it has made enough internationally to break even.

This film could change how Comic Book movies are made. For years, studios have been terrified of continuity when it came to movies. They operated under the assumption that moviegoers didn't know enough about the backstory of the various comic book characters and wouldn't be interested in following an extended plot that involved multiple movies. Marvel's The Avengers could prove all of that wrong.

It has the strongest buzz of any film opening this year, while the early reviews are nearly perfect. Additionally, the film's early international numbers have ranged from outstanding to record-breaking. It has beaten Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 opening numbers in more than a few markets. Expectations couldn't be higher. In fact, great expectations is the film's only thing I'm worried about. If the film doesn't break records here, it will be seen as a disappointment by some people.

Last Minute Update: While Marvel's The Avengers' opening day on the international box office was impressive, its first weekend was even better. At this point, the opening weekend's over / under is $170 million, while the chances it will top $400 million domestically have improved and it might be the first $1 billion movie of the year.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie before I saw the trailer, but even without any real expectations, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that. Tim Burton decided against making a straight adaptation of the original TV series. This makes total sense, as the original show was a soap opera, which is not the type of show that one can easily adapt into a stand along movie. Additionally, the most famous character in the original show, Barnabas Collins, wasn't introduced right away, so either he had to make the movie without the most famous part of the TV show, or seriously mess with the original story anyway. So instead of dealing with that mess, he made a zany fish-out-of-water comedy. Johnny Depp plays Barnabas Collins, who lived in the 1700s and was in love. However, a witch was obsessed with him and when he refused to leave his true love for her, she cursed him and turned him into a Vampire. Afterwards, he is trapped and isn't released until the 1970s and when he is, he has to deal with his dysfunctional descendants, as well as the culture clash of living more than 200 years in the future. And that's before the witch that cursed him originally shows up and further complicates things.

I've liked almost everything Tim Burton has made in the past and his collaborations with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are among his best films, so I'm willing to embrace the strangeness in the trailer, and there's a lot there. I have faith that as bizarre as the trailer was, the movie will work as a whole. I'm not alone in thinking this way. Of Tim Burton's last six live action films, four of them have reached $100 million, including three of his last four films with Johnny Depp and three of the four with Helena Bonham Carter. (And two of the three films featuring both of them.) So reaching $100 million is a reasonable goal for the film, while it could match last year's big hit of the weekend, Bridesmaids. That might be asking too much, but I remain cautiously optimistic.

Joel Murray stars as Frank, an unemployed man who just learned he has a brain tumor and he's going to die. His life is so bleak, he decides to kill himself. However, after watching a Reality TV show, he decides he wants to live... so he can kill others. His first kill is a spoiled kid on said TV show who was upset because her parents bought her the wrong car. While preparing to kill this girl, Frank is spotted by another girl, Roxy (played by newcomer Tara Lynne Barr) who wants to join Frank on his killing spree.

Bobcat Goldthwait has directed a number of films, most of which deal with topics that are decidedly noncommercial. Shakes the Clown was about an alcoholic clown who was framed for murder. Stay was a romantic comedy that involved bestiality. World's Greatest Dad was about a father discovering his son's dead body, after his son accidentally killed himself with auto-erotic asphyxiation. Compared to that, God Bless America is as mainstream as a Disney cartoon. That said, it is going to be a tough sell. There are some reasons to be hopeful. Firstly, its early reviews are nearly perfect. Secondly, the buzz is better than expected, and much louder than most limited releases earn.

I'm not saying its going to expand wide and become a major hit. But it has the potential to earn some measure of mainstream success, while it should become a bigger hit on the home market.

So apparently all those times I played Battleship as a kid, we were aliens destroying the fleets. Who knew? This movie has many problems, including the addition of random aliens to the plot. Also, battleships don't exist anymore, outside of floating museums. The last battleship built, the HMS Vanguard, was constructed 70 years ago. While the last battleship to see active duty was the USS Missouri, which saw very limited duty during the Gulf War and was last a real factor in the Korean War. So the movie is based on a board game without a plot and is named after a type of weapon that hasn't seen serious action in more than half a century. Will that hurt the movie's box office chances? Perhaps, if people making fun of the film drowns out positive word-of-mouth. Its reviews are better than expected at just shy of 50% positive, while its international numbers are strong. I don't think it will match its production budget domestically, but there is good news as it has opened internationally and it is already close to $200 million after just three weeks of release. There is a chance it could make that much here, but even just $100 would be enough to break even sooner rather than later. If it makes more than $200 million here and $500 million worldwide, there could be a sequel, or even worse, more board game adaptions. (Candyland is already in production.)

I have no idea what to expect for this movie. On the one hand, in 2006, Larry Charles and Sacha Baron Cohen teamed up to make Borat, which was one of the biggest surprise hits of the year earning more than $100 million. On the other hand, they reunited a few years later to make Bruno, and that film failed to live up to expectations making less than half of the previous film's total. The Dictator literally could do better than the former, or worse than the latter. It depends on if people are tired of Sacha Baron Cohen's schtick or if Bruno couldn't live up to unreasonable expectations after Borat. Fortunately, early buzz is positive and it looks like the film's reviews will be strong. Additionally, it is the first R-rated comedy of the summer, so it has that going for it. On the other hand, it is sharing counter-programing duties with another film this weekend, What to Expect When Your Expecting, which will eat into its box office chances. Opening on Wednesday will likely deflate its opening three-day weekend total, but hopefully getting a jump on the competition will help build word-of-mouth for the following weeks. I think becoming a strong midlevel hit with $75 million is likely.

This movie started as a magazine article and later it expanded into a non-fictional book. Now it's a movie starring nearly every actor working today. On the high end of expectations, Valentine's Day. On the low end of expectations, New Year's Eve. On the really, really high end, Bridesmaids. There's really not much more that needs to be said, as it's too early to tell where the film will end up. There's not a lot of buzz, good or bad, but counter-programing films rarely stand out this far in advance of their debuts. Also, given the target demographic, it is less likely to generate internet buzz than every other film opening wide this month. So it is not surprising this one is currently flying below the radar for most people, but that should change in a couple weeks.

A group of tourists in Russia decide to take an "Extreme Tour" of Prypiat, the city abandoned after the Chernobyl Disaster. However, after they get there, they learn it wasn't abandoned by everything.

This film managed to fly completely under my radar, but I think that is understandable. It is the directorial debut of Bradley Parker, who is mostly known for his visual effects work. Most of the cast are relatively unknown. But is was written by Oren Peli, who wrote the first Paranormal Activity and he is arguably the biggest name attached to the film. I don't think the studio is optimistic enough to think this film will do as well as any of the Paranormal Activity films did, but given its likely very low budget, it won't need to make a lot to break even. There is a chance it won't open truly wide, in which case it will likely struggle during Memorial Day long weekend, disappear shortly after that, and never reach $1 million at the box office. Even if it opens wide, it might struggle during Memorial Day long weekend and disappear shortly after that, but at least it will have a shot at matching its production budget. It depends on if the studio can build some buzz before the release date, because right now there's almost none. There are limited releases opening this month earning louder buzz (Hick, Moonrise Kingdom, The Perfect Family, Quill, and others).

I am not sold on this film. It has been a decade since Men in Black 2 came out, and while that movie earned close to $200 million domestically and over $400 million worldwide, it is widely considered vastly inferior to the original film in the franchise. Looking at the Tomatometer Scores and the two films are not even close. So the studio needs to be able to sell the film to an audience that loved the characters the first time they saw them, but were disappointed the last time out. Also, Will Smith hasn't had a film role in four years, while his $100 million streak was snapped with Seven Pounds. The first trailer appears to have done its job and the buzz is so strong that it is one of the most anticipated films of the summer. If the film can just sell as many tickets as MIB2, then it will make more than $250 million. I'm sure the studio is hoping it will make that much given its hefty production budget, but I think just a hair over $200 is more likely, while $500 million worldwide may or may not be likely. This should be enough to break even sooner rather than later, but not enough to risk another sequel.