DON'T PANIC!!

This should be a very familiar phrase. It's inscribed in big friendly letters on the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, perhaps the most successful book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor. More popular than The Celestial Homecare Omnibus, better selling than Fifty-Three More Things to Do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters, Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who Is This God Person Anyway?

Sad news happens all the time around the planet, and each sad story is of different proportions. I can't say that the news that shook my world (and some of yours, who are reading this) this week could be considered terrible in regards to what many societies are going through every day. The fact is, however, that Fantasy Moguls will no longer exist in a matter of days, and with that disappearance, this is officially the last Dances with the Arthouse column I will ever write for the site.

Greetings, Moguls! With Thanksgiving just a day away, and the unfortunate news that Fantasy Moguls is being discontinued, this week's column marks a sort of deviation from the norm, for me. Tossing price and strategy analysis aside, and focusing instead on personal opinion and the holiday's theme of gratitude, this week I'm bringing you my Thankful 10 — I'll tell you the five films released in the past 12 months, and the five coming out in the next year, that I’m most thankful for.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook and also on Twitter (For immediate box office updates, "follow" me.) 

TUESDAY 9:30 p.m. (Pacific): The general consensus is that, although Four Christmases (Warner Bros.) is a flawed movie — I'm being kind — it is going to open. It's been very well cast, with Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon pulling Females Under 25, Vince Vaughn pumping up appeal with Males Under 25 and Oscar winners like Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Mary Steenburgen luring in the 25 Plus crowd. The truth is that there is always room for a Christmas comedy at Thanksgiving. The high water mark was 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which opened with $55 million on its way to $260 million domestic, but there is a proven track record for Christmas-themed films opening either right at Thanksgiving or a week or two before.

[NOTE: Shrykespeare submitted this column prior to Monday's announcement regarding the future of Fantasy Moguls.] Good day, fellow intrepid travelers of the murky moors of Fantaversia, and welcome to the latest installment of Bard's Eye View. The calendar year is winding down, and studios are hoping to end 2008 with a far bigger bang than it began. (Remember One Missed Call? You know ... OMC?Anyone? Anyone?) Also winding down are the 1st Annual Super Leagues, and the few contestants who remain are trying doggedly to avoid that final brutal cut. It's so nice to be the one with the scissors ... (Wink.)

Today Dances With the Arthouse is going to be multicultural. One of the pleasures of writing about limited releases is the excitement of discussing films from all parts of the world — I must confess that I am always a bit disappointed when U.S. indies are all I have to preview. This week my overview fall on Nov. 14. While James Bond and his Quantum of Solace adventure will finally arrive in America's multiplexes (two weeks after us happy Europeans!), five arthouse films will attempt to shine in smaller circles. German, Indian, French, British and, yes, American — pick a nationality, they will all be represented on Nov. 14, and for all kinds of Fantasy Moguls prices. Need a little advice as to what you should ignore, what you should snatch up, and what could go either way? I will do my best.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook and also on Twitter! (For immediate box office updates, "follow" me.)

SUNDAY 9:30 a.m. (Pacific): Twilight (Summit), based on the wildly popular Stephenie Meyer series of novels, has blown past even the most optimistic industry expectations with an estimated $70.55 million opening weekend. The movie, which had teen girls lined up Thursday at midnight and generated an estimated $7.5 million by sunrise on Friday, finished its first day with about $35.7 million. The movie has proved to be hyper-frontloaded, however, diving 41 percent on Saturday for about $21 million, followed by a possible 34 percent Sunday slide for $13.9 million. (My published projection Friday night was $70.58 million.)

Steve Mason is now on Facebook.

Steve Mason is also on Twitter with user name SteveMason323. For immediate box office updates, "follow" me.

A housewife in suburban Phoenix is responsible for the movie that will dominate America's multiplexes this weekend. Twilight (Summit) is a phenomenon in industry tracking and advance sales, and two separate competing studio sources are telling me that they expect the film adaptation of Bella and Edward's forbidden romance to top $60 million in its opening three days.

It's not really proportional to compare Twilight author Stephenie Meyer to Harry Potter author J.K.  Rowling, especially since Meyer's success might not have been possible without Rowling before her. Both authors are moms who had never written anything prior to selling millions of novels with series that are widely read by teen and 'tweens. Meyer herself, however, does not believe that the Twilight saga could have become a sensation if Potter had never happened. Prior to Harry Potter, kids didn't read 500-page novels, grown-ups didn't read books targeted at kids, and publishers and booksellers didn't necessarily know how to market and sell novels like this.

America is a nation of proud people. Proud of their country, proud of their image, proud of their beliefs. The feeling of collective confidence is probably more developed than in any other nation on the globe. That pride does not skip the cinema, and by the calendar alone, it is easy to guess which films distributors are proud to be releasing. Your movie is getting a January release? An end-of-August/beginning-of-September release? A March or April release? It looks like your distributor does not entirely believe your film will be remembered by cinephiles. Of course, small distributors are less apt to think that way as most of the time they only buy films they've been charmed by.

Hello, good day to you all, and welcome once again to Bard's Eye View. Being Fantay Moguls's second-most-tenured weekly columnist (after the August Mister Informative) gives me a unique perspective. On the one hand, I'd like to think my position commands a certain amount of respect, but there are always those who delight in taking me down a peg or poking holes in my (guffaw) research. Which is fine: Those of you who just love that feeling of schadenfreude should know that there is currently a thread on the Message Boards where you can basically go AGAINST my "Weekend Winners" picks from a couple weeks ago. So if you want to put your money where your, erm, fingers are, have at me! (Those who picked dual Top 5 and PTA victories for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa are already a half-point ahead of me; I honestly didn't think it would open THAT big, or that The Boy in the Striped Pajamas could fail to emerge victorious ... still, it was close.)