Weekend Forecast: Can Conan the Barbarian Rule the Dog Days of Summer?

Another August weekend, another genre explosion. As summer slowly ends with a whimper, four new releases are set to crowd multiplexes -- three of which will screen in 3-D (with one of those even in 4-D. (Aromascope, FTW!) Will Conan the Barbarian slay Spy Kids and One Day co-stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess with a broadsword slice, or will Colin Farrell and Fright Night jam a stake through the hearts of moviegoers nationwide? Or maybe The Help will clean up all four of them? Wordplay! Click through for the Weekend Forecast.

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

· Conan the Barbarian: He lives, he loves, he slays, but will he be content with moderate box office earnings? That's the question for Conan the Barbarian, which arrives in theaters this weekend following a summer of Internet hype. During this frame in 2010, the second weekend of The Expendables flexed its brawny muscles to win the box office with just under $17 million. A similar start for Conan seems like a reasonable prediction; after all, what other film are Muscle Milk-drinking American males between the ages of 18-35 going to spend their money on? FORECAST: $16.1 million

· Fright Night: To call Colin Farrell's box office history spotty would be an understatement. From Alexander to Miami Vice to Pride & Glory, having Farrell on the marquee as a leading man seems like a surefire way to underwhelm at the box office. Into that landscape comes Fright Night, a film that DreamWorks has been plugging since May. On the plus side, it's about vampires and screening in 3-D; on the downside, the endless marketing campaign hasn't really pushed the romance or comedy angle enough. Will female audiences be wary of approaching this one, even when presented with the comely spectre of Mr. Farrell? FORECAST: $12.7 million

· Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 4D: The last time Robert Rodriguez released a Spy Kids film, it grossed $33.4 million on opening weekend, en route to $111 million overall. Unfortunately, that was 2003. Eight years later, the core audience for Spy Kids has grown up, leaving the franchise to fight for new youngsters -- youngsters who apparently really want to smell dirty diapers. The guess here is that they don't. Parents, apologies in advance if you have to see/smell this one. FORECAST: $11.4 million

· One Day: Talk about hiding a movie. One Day -- an adaptation of the international bestseller, featuring one of the biggest female stars in Hollywood (Anne Hathaway), one handsome import (Jim Sturgess), and an up-and-coming female director off a critically acclaimed Best Picture nominee (Lone Scherfig) -- is being unceremoniously dumped on 1,600 screens in August? If it walks like a duck... FORECAST: $4.9 million

THE PRIME DESTINATION

With solid mid-week numbers and booming word of mouth, it appears that The Help is poised to ascend to the top of the charts during its second weekend; box office tracking has the film on course for an $18 million haul and perhaps even higher. Controversy or not, expect the legs on this one to continue well past Labor Day.

REGIONAL OUTLOOK

John Salles returns with Amigo, a tale of the Philippine-American War with Chris Cooper and Garrett Dillahunt in starring roles. Elsewhere, Griff the Invisible, with True Blood star Ryan Kwanten playing a superhero, opens in limited release.

Care to call your shot?