Forecast: Who Will You Trust With Your Weekend?

Happy Friday! Finally, moviegoers earn a break from the high-fiber diet of awards madness and empty-calorie binging of late-winter trash -- though the dessert bar remains fully stocked, and at least two awards-caliber releases find their ways screenward in both the multiplex and the art house. Let's break it down, and weigh in with your own forecast below.

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

Rango: Director Gore Verbinski veers off from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise -- though not from Johnny Depp, who leads the voice ensemble here -- with the animated tale of a lizard who winds up in a decrepit desert-wasteland town named Dirt, only to ascend to the town's much-needed role of sheriff. The search for water, justice, and, apparently, more sophisticated and/or violent laughs than any PG-targeted viewer will ever understand ensues. I've heard nothing but but good things about Rango; Stephanie Zacharek's review hints its amazing character design makes up for its plot flimsiness, while Mike Ryan talked to Verbinski about its dazzling departures from Hollywood's 21st-century animation orthodoxy. Which is great, but Rango ultimately will kill because Gnomeo and Juliet is played out and parents don't know yet that this isn't intended for kids of all ages. This should open great; it's the legs and word-of-mouth I'm worried about. And in any case, if you really can't wait to start your 2012 Oscar pool, keep an eye on this one as an early entry. FORECAST: $38.8 million

The Adjustment Bureau: Universal never demonstrated much faith in the George Nolfi-directed, Matt Damon-starring adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's short story "Adjustment Team," bumping its release date at least twice and presently running an ad campaign implying little if anything about what this strangely titled film is actually about. (I honestly can't figure it out either, even after reading Elvis Mitchell's inspired review.) Still: Matt! Dehh-muhnn! We've found this year's Green Zone. FORECAST: $14.5 million

Take Me Home Tonight: Speaking of delayed films, OMG can you believe this was shot four years ago and even made it to theaters at all? I don't know whether to salute Rogue and Relativity for taking a chance on this long-sort-of-awaited, '80s-inflected comedy (formerly titled Kids in America) or wonder in disbelief how this ever managed a detour from the straight-to-DVD expressway. Either way, it yielded a killer review by Stephanie Zacharek, so let's give thanks for that while we mourn its stillbirth at the box office. FORECAST: $7.3 million

Beastly: Speaking again of delayed films, let's hear it for Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer and the gang behind Beastly -- finally bringing their labor of one-quadrant tween-courting love to the screen. Seeing as Michelle Orange hit her review of the loose Beauty and the Beast updating out of the park as well (our critics had an amazing week, in case it's not clear by now), I'll defer to her on the exposition front. On the projection front, meanwhile... Oy. On around 1,900 screens, not much to see here. After this and I Am Number Four, is Pettyfer over as a leading man before he even really began? FORECAST: $6.5 million

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

Last year's stirring, Cannes-winning Thai head-scratcher Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives commences its gradual American invasion (Oscar 2012, here we come -- the shortlist, anyway) in New York and Los Angeles, trailed ever-so-gorily onshore by Korean director Kim Jee-woon's Graphic-with-a-capital-G violent revenge epic I Saw the Devil. On the lighter, English-language side comes Josh Radnor's directorial debut happythankyoumoreplease (review forthcoming this morning), while L.A. finally gets the truly awesome gonzo-exposé glimpse into North Korea, The Red Chapel.

A (potentially) good week at last! What are your picks?