First Teaser of David O. Russell's 'American Hustle'

Salivating...

"The Simpsons" at the Movies

A wonderful 20-minute time waster-- every film reference from the first five seasons, or "Golden Age" of The Simpsons.  The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane and Gone With the Wind are particularly popular, but the greater sight gags are the less obvious-- did you spot them all?

Weekend Box Office

Wolverine came, and easily took the top place at the weekend box office, but it was more of a whimper than a boom-- the X-Men franchise still has some rehabilitation to stabilize the creative drudge that came from X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009.)  It was hardly the news story of the weekend however.

1. The Wolverine- $55 million (new)
2. The Conjuring- $22.1 million / $83.8 million total (-47%)
3. Despicable Me 2- $16 millin / $306.4 million total (-35%)-- now the second highest grossing domestic title of 2013, behind Iron Man 3.
4. Turbo- $13.3 million / $55.7 million total (-37%)
5. Grown Ups 2- $11.5 million / $101.6 million total (-42%)- this marks Adam Sandler's 13th title to gross north of $100 million domestically-- how do we feel about that?
6. Red 2- $9.4 million / $35 million total (-47%)
7. Pacific Rim- $7.5 million / $84 million total (-52%)
8. The Heat- $6.8 million / $141.2 million total (-26%)
9. R.I.P.D.- $5.8 million / $24.3 million total (-53%)
10. Fruitvale Station- $4.6 million / $6.3 million total (+529%)

BELOW THE TOP TEN

The big news story was the astounding opening weekend gross for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, which earned $613,000 on 6 screens this weekend for a per-screen average of $102,167.  That's the biggest per-screen average of the year so far, the biggest of Woody Allen's career (slightly above the $99,834 Midnight in Paris posted just years ago) unadjusted for inflation, the biggest per-screen victory ever accounted in Sony Pictures Classics' history (again, unadjusted) and enough to encourage the possibility that the critically accepted, already award-buzzed about film will expand well in the coming weeks.

Here's the Per-Screen Average Breakdown of 2013 So Far:

1. Blue Jasmine- $101,167 (6 screens)
2. Spring Breakers- $87,667 (3 screens)
3. The Place Beyond the Pines- $69,864 (4 screens)
4. Fruitvale Station- $55,184 (7 screens)
5. Before Midnight- $49,483 (5 screens)
6. The Bling Ring- $42,879 (5 screens)
7. Iron Man 3- $40,946 (4,253 screens)

Wolverine and Woody

Hugh Jackman returns as the clawed superhero on which he is most familiar with The Wolverine, the only major release to debut this weekend.  Director James Margold (Walk the Line, Knight & Day) hopes to undue the damage brought on the spin-off franchise by the dwindling returns of the Wolverine's first solo entry which in 2009 earned awful reviews and despite a strong open, experienced a drastic fall.  The first days results proved a sigh of relief for the studio executives at 20th Century Fox, as it collected $21 million on its first day of release (including a sold $4 million from Thursday late shows-- an uptick of recent films like Pacific Rim and World War Z.)  While it will fall short of the $85 million opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the long end may appear brighter for the better reviewed flick which received an A- CinemaScore.  Here's how the X-Men series stands cash flow wise:

X-Men (2000)- $54 million opening ---> $157.2 million total
X2: X-Men United (2003)- $85 million opening ---> $214.9 million total
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)- $102 million opening ---> $234.3 million total
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)- $85 million opening ---> $179.8 million total
X-Men: First Class (2011)- $55 million opening ---> $146.4 million total

On the limited side of the openings, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine is hoping to achieve one of the strongest per-screen averages of the year.  Allen's highest per-screen average so far was Midnight in Paris, which debuted on 6 screens for an average of $93,000.

UPDATE: Blue Jasmine will indeed have one of the more notable limited openings of the year as its first day gross was an estimated $176,000 for a stellar per-screen of $29,000.  It's positioned to open on par (or even perhaps slightly better) than Midnight in Paris.  Fruitvale Station (review), meanwhile, expanded into wide release for a Friday gross of $1.4 million, good enough for the tenth slot.