Greetings, Moguls! Earlier this summer, you might remember, I wrote a piece on the pros and cons of spending a large portion of your slate budget on one of the monster blockbusters released in May. Now those films have come and gone -- perhaps more quietly than some might have imagined -- and there's arguably only one blockbuster remaining before school's back in session: The Bourne Ultimatum. The upcoming month may look a little bare at first glance, but films released in August could have a big effect (both for better and for worse) on your studio. August flicks will also have at least nine weeks on the market in new August-October leagues, which makes their potential even more intriguing. In this column, I'm revisiting 10 August movies to explain why they'll be studs (i.e. meet or exceed expectations) or duds (flicks that, well, aren't as hot as they might seem).

SATURDAY NIGHT: The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) dipped an estimated 17 percent from its meteoric Friday opening, but the animated TV adaptation still grabbed approximately $24.15 million. With a conservative 20 percent Sunday drop, the first big screen adventure for Homer and family will still have banked a phenomenal $72.5 million. That's 45 percent more than industry tracking services NRG, MarketCast and OTX were calling for at the start of the weekend.

The Simpsons Movie (Fox) debuts today at just under 4,000 locations, and, to me, the question is "Will this be a $10 experience?" After 19 years and 400 episodes, how many jokes remain untold? We're about to find out.

Bonsoir, mon amis, and welcome to the latest installment of Le Tour Horizon du Barde, the place to come for insight from your own cinematic bloodhound, tracking those elusive spoors through the impermeable ether, your very own specially trained pig, rooting through the undergrowth to separate the exquisite cache of truffles from the truly odious piles of (Shrykespeare's editor: "Watch it, bub.") Um, yeah, anyway, whether you are an experienced chasseur, or whether you are a cinema novice experiencing your first hunt, I bid you welcome.

Greetings, Moguls! Mister Informative here. With the summer season drawing to a close, or at least drawing to the end of July, we've already seen and experienced all the "big guns" of the "school's out" portion of the calendar. These are the films that will probably end up at the top of the heap when year-end gross figures are tallied. In 2006, just one non-summer release, Night at the Museum, ranked among Top 5 grossing films of the year. Even though it made about half its total in early 2007, the final number is all-inclusive since Museum was released last December.

I Know Who Killed her career, but DUI will boost her new movie
By now, you've probably heard that Lindsay Lohan was arrested Monday night/Tuesday morning for DUI. This is unbelievable considering that she just finished 45 days of rehab at a Malibu, Calif., facility. Word is that she blew something in the range of 1.2-1.3, and that cocaine was discovered in the pocket of her pants. She was arrested near the corner of Main Street and Pico in Santa Monica, which is convenient, ironically, to the Santa Monica courthouse just one block away. Apparently, she was chasing the mother of her former personal assistant, who quit what must be an impossible job recently.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (Universal) will probably challenge Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) for the weekend crown, but Hairspray (New Line) is the movie that holds the most box office intrigue.

Cloudy forecast for Danny Boyle's Sunshine
A few months back, I was invited to an advance screening of Sunshine (Fox Searchlight), the new sci-fi film from Danny Boyle. It'll open on 10 screens this Friday before going to 1,000-plus on July 27.

'Allo, 'allo, me 'earties, and welcome once again to Bard's Eye View, your weekly atlas for all manner of cinematic topography, helping you chart a course through the murky and tepid waters of August, a month where studios typically try to grab whatever pocket change summer moviegoers have left. As is usually the case, the eighth month of the year is riddled with offerings that the higher-ups figured, "We don't want them to be crushed by bigger and/or better films, but neither do we want them totally ignored when fall classes start up again." Sigh. Whether you are a seasoned navigator, experienced at wending your way through the minefields and maelstroms of mediocrity, or a junior seaman (quiet, you) who needs a few friendly "Go Here" signs to help you along, I bid you welcome.