So there's good news and bad news to report this beautiful Friday morning. The bad news: Studios mostly hate you today. The good news: There are more than enough new-release alternatives to keep you occupied throughout the weekend -- assuming, that is, that you aren't previously committed to Christmas shopping and/or anything else that will keep you miles from the multiplex. Don't overbook your days off just yet, though...
NATIONAL FORECAST
· Tron: Legacy: On the one hand, I haven't heard yet from a single Tron fan who can justify or even defend this sequel; 30 years on from Steven Lisberger's original lost-in-a-computer B-movie, you still can't even get Tron 1 on DVD. On the other, this elusiveness is not an accident. After all, the original was kind of terrible, and Disney's canny, unprecedented 30-month build-up has managed to develop a whole new generation fed by the scraps of Comic-Con hype alone. Before you light into me, Tron Nation, let it be said I have no problems with this; it's business, and I get it. In fact, despite the mediocre-at-best reviews (including a brush-off by our own Stephanie Zacharek), I totally admire the way Disney's gone after the kids with the biggest, shiniest, IMAX-iest 3-D package it can muster, all concealing a feeble franchise heart it hopes to restore to some semblance of health. The strategy should work on a weekend where literally nothing else comes close to competing. FORECAST: $43.5 million
· Yogi Bear: You can do one of two things when it comes to the beleaguered live-action/CGI 3-D updating of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon: Either follow the advice of co-star T.J. Miller, who -- somewhat convincingly -- can't vouch for it enough; or just watch The Assassination of Yogi Bear by the Coward Boo Boo one more time and be rid of this one for the rest of your life. There really is no in-between, unless you have children under 6, in which case... I can't help you. Just make up some excuse: The multiplex burned down, or maybe, "It's this or Christmas, kids. You can't have both." That should get the job done. FORECAST: $18.3 million
· How Do You Know: There's a formula for calculating the opening weekends of Jim Brooks films -- let me see if I can remember:
A (B + [C/3.71] - D) - (4.4/E)
Wherein:
A = Middling reviews
B = Total white, childless married couples in America
C = Total first dates on opening weekend
D = Screen count
E = Budget
By my rough estimates... that's... (calculator clackity-clack-clack)... FORECAST: $14.1 million
REGIONAL OUTLOOK
Actually, this isn't regional per se, but last week's limited-release champ The Fighter is going wide on 2,500 screens. Black Swan picks up another 869 as well, and The King's Speech more than doubles its own screen count, adding 24. So if you've been waiting for the awards-season darlings to open in a theater near you, your moment has arrived. In more limited markets, Nicole Kidman's own Oscar hopeful Rabbit Hole finds its way to New York and Los Angeles, with Kevin Spacey's Jack Abramoff biopic Casino Jack not far behind it. And that is your weekend! There is also football!