The first problem for Grindhouse is that its tracking has been a little soft. It trails Sony's Are We Done Yet? in the Total Aware column, which means that more people know about the slapstick Ice Cube sequel, but the two movies are basically tied when it comes to Definite Interest and First Choice. The pictures shouldn't hurt each other very much.

Done Yet? is the First Choice of Women Under 25, while Grindhouse, of course, is a male-driven film -- it's scoring especially well with Males 25 Plus. But, generally speaking, neither film has managed to generate anything more than so-so tracking.

Another issue for Grindhouse is that it is possibly "too hip for the room." I'm a movie junkie, so I understand the concept here. Tarantino and Rodriguez have created an homage to the exploitation films of the '70s with over-the-top violence, all-out bloody gore and crazy hot women (including Rose McGowan, who's crazy hot and has a machine gun for a leg).

Posters for Grindhouse have a vintage look, TV ads look like they're from another era (it looks like there are scratches on the film) and even the trailers have a retro feel. This is camp, and I get it (and if you're reading this site, you probably get it too), but will the average 18-25-year-old male clue in?

There's definitely some Snakes On A Plane effect here, too. People have been buzzing about Grindhouse for months, but, as we found out with Snakes, buzz doesn't always pan out in box office sales.

Then there's the film's major handicap: It's 3 hours and 20 minutes long. I don't think that this will necessarily keep people away, but Grindhouse will have a "turn time" of 4 hours. The turn time is the total time between showtimes when you factor in trailers and theater cleanup.

That means that the average theater will only be able to show Grindhouse four times per day on Friday and Saturday, and three times per day Sunday through Thursday. Multiple screens at major locations will help overcome this, but it's hard to know how many multiple-print locations Weinstein Co. has managed to secure.

The directors both have proven track records, although despite Tarantino's bravado and high profile, Rodriguez has actually been the more successful of the two at the box office:

QUENTIN TARANTINO
1992 -- Reservoir Dogs, $147,000 opening ($2.8 million cume)
1994 -- Pulp Fiction, $9.3 million opening ($107.9 million cume)
1995 -- Four Rooms, $427,000 opening ($4.2 million cume)
1997 -- Jackie Brown, $9.2 million opening ($39.6 million cume)
2003 -- Kill Bill, Vol. 1, $22 million opening ($70 million cume)
2004 -- Kill Bill, Vol. 2, $25.1 million opening ($66.2 million cume)

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ
1992 -- El Mariachi, $312,000 opening ($2 million cume)
1995 -- Desperado, $7.9 million opening ($25.4 million cume)
1995 -- Four Rooms, $427,000 opening ($4.2 million cume)
1996 -- From Dusk Till Dawn, $10.2 million opening ($25.8 million cume)
1998 -- The Faculty, $11.6 million opening ($40.2 million cume)
2001 -- Spy Kids, $26.5 million opening ($112.7 million cume)
2002 -- Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams, $16.7 million opening ($85.8 million cume)
2003 -- Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, $33.4 million opening ($111.7 million cume)
2003 -- Once Upon A Time in Mexico, $23.4 million opening ($56.3 million cume)
2005 -- Sin City, $29.1 million opening ($74.1 million cume)
2005 -- The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl 3-D, $12.5 million opening ($39.1 million cume)

Some box office analysts are calling for Grindhouse to hit $30 million or more this weekend. I just don't believe that's realistic, given the tracking and the turn time, so I'm calling for $18-$21 million over the three-day and a narrow victory over holdover Blades of Glory (Paramount), which should finish in the same range.

The surprise 2005 hit Are We There Yet? ($18 million opening, $82.6 million cume) turned rapper Ice Cube into a slapstick family film star, and he's back for what the producers are calling a remake of the 1948 comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, starring Cary Grant.

Call me skeptical, but something tells me that the only connection between the two films is that they both involve fixing up a house. The director of There Yet?, Brian Levant, bailed on this projec,t so Cube and friends are under the direction of Steve Carr, who gave us that little slice of heaven called Dr. Dolittle 2.

Putting my sarcasm aside, here's Ice Cube's box-office resume:

1. Are We There Yet?, $82.6 million cume
2. Barbershop, $75.7 million cume
3. Anaconda, $65.9 million cume
4. Barbershop 2: Back in Business, $65.1 million cume
5. Three Kings, $60.6 million cume
6. Boyz N the Hood, $57.5 million cume
7. Next Friday, $57.3 million cume
8. Higher Learning, $38.3 million cume
9. Friday After Next, $33.2 million cume
10. Friday, $27.4 million cume
11. xXx: State of the Union, $26.8 million cume
12. All About the Benjamins, $25.9 million cume
13. Trespass, $13.2 million cume
14. Ghosts of Mars, $8.7 million
15. The Glass Shield, $3.3 million cume

The bottom line is that it's spring break for a lot of kids, and a good number of them a) are too young for Grindhouse (even if they are desperate to see it), b) have already seen Meet the Robinsons, or c) think that Firehouse Dog looks as stupid as us grown-ups do. Given those factors, I'll forecast $13-$16 million for Done Yet? from Friday through Sunday, with and a five-day haul of $17-$20 million.

Another weekend means another horror picture, and this time around we get The Reaping (Warner Bros.), a Bible-thumpin' end-of-the-world yarn from producer Joel Silver, starring two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank.

The former Million Dollar Baby plays an ex-ordained minister who lost her faith because, while doing missionary work in the Sudan, her husband and daughter were killed. When a river turns to blood and it starts raining frogs, and people start getting nasty boils, she begins to wonder if it was a mistake to write off the whole "God thing."

Horror films based on biblical prophecy have historically been hit-or-miss. Here are some examples:

End of Days, $20.5 million opening ($66.8 million cume)
The Omen (1976), $4.2 million opening ($60.9 million cume)
The Omen (2006), $16 million opening ($54.6 million cume)
Damien: The Omen II, $3.8 million opening ($26.5 million cume)
Omen III: The Final Conflict, $5.5 million opening ($20.4 million cume)
The Seventh Sign, $3.7 million opening ($18.8 million cume)
Left Behind, $2.1 million opening ($4.2 million cume)
The Rapture, $171,000 opening ($1.2 million)

The original version of The Omen, starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick, remains the benchmark in this niche. It's one of those movies that, when I come across it on pay cable late at night, I tend to watch all the way through. Still damn scary.

I'm not including pictures like The Exorcist ($232 million cume) and The Exorcism of Emily Rose ($30 million opening, $75 million cume) in this category, although you could certainly make the case that they are biblical horror films.

Is there a top-shelf actress who makes more bad choices than Swank? She's coming off of her solid performance in the overachieving Freedom Writers ($9.4 million opening, $36.6 cume), but before that she appeared in The Black Dahlia ($10 opening, $22.5 million cume), which was a monumentally bad movie. Her previous stabs at purely commercial work have included The Core ($31.1 million cume), The Affair of the Necklace ($471,000 cume) and The Gift ($12 million cume).

With a derivative plot, awful reviews and a star with little-to-no youth appeal, The Reaping will have a rough opening weekend. I'm calling for a three-day take of $9-$12 million and a four-day haul of $12-$15 million.

The biggest head-scratcher of the week, as in, "Who the hell greenlights these things?," is Firehouse Dog (20th Century Fox). This mongrel of a movie is about a pampered movie star terrier named Rexxx (yes, there are three Xs), who was the star of Jurassic Bark (funny, right?).

After a movie stunt goes wrong, he is taken in by a kid, and the prima donna "mutt from hell" winds up at the kid's dad's firehouse, where he shows an aptitude for saving people from fires. This movie should have been "put down" long before it was foisted upon the moviegoing public. With a target audience of kids between the ages of 3 and 5 (6-year-olds might find it stupid), Firehouse Dog will muster a meager three-day of $5-$8 million and a five-day of $8-$11.

PROJECTIONS FOR 3-DAY EASTER WEEKEND (April 6-8):
1. Grindhouse (Weinstein Co.) -- $19.5 million
2. Blades of Glory (Paramount) -- $19 million
3. Meet the Robinsons (Buena Vista) -- $16.9 million
4. Are We Done Yet? (Sony) -- $14 million [5-day of $18.5 million]
5. The Reaping (Warner Bros.) -- $10.7 million [4-day of $13 million]
6. 300 (Warner Bros.) -- $7.9 million
7. Firehouse Dog (20th Century Fox) -- $6.7 million [5-day of $10 million]
8. Wild Hogs (Buena Vista) -- $5.4 million
9. Shooter (Paramount) -- $4.9 million
10. TMNT (Warner Bros.) -- $4.4 million