WEDNESDAY NIGHT: I did a personal survey of studio sources today, and they were unanimous in saying that the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 video game sensation that his the market on Tuesday, will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the box-office performance of Iron Man (Paramount) this weekend.

Hello all, and welcome once again to Bard's Eye View, the place to come to alleviate some of the confusion you must feel when trying to pick the strongest possible lineup for your summer slates. Yes, that's right, I said summer! SUMMER! Hip hip hooray! Nice nice! Ya-boo! Phillips is a German and he have my pen! (BONG!) "Start again ..."

Warner Bros. and the Wachowski Brothers may need to call for a tow truck. Speed Racer, the big budget adaptation of the popular anime cartoon classic, remains in the "slow lane" according to the most recent industry tracking.

Greetings, Moguls! After a long, arduous winter/spring full of movies as flat as the Coke you left uncovered outside all day, summer is FINALLY here. It's time for another dose of superheroes, high powered sequels, and of course, the annual contribution from Pixar. The new May-July leagues have some very interesting prices, to be sure; whether you're in an Ultimate or Box Office league, it's possible to fit 2 or even 3 mega-blockbusters on your slate! But, in order to do that, you'll have to reach into the bargain basement for some potentially low-priced steals. Have no fear, however! As a special kickoff to the summer season, this week I am expanding my analysis to bring you: The Summer Bargain Basement Spectacular, a countdown of the best 10 films in each league type, Ultimate Movie Moguls and Box Office Moguls priced at $5 or less.

Indiana Jones is coming. So is Batman. So is that spaceship that looks exactly like Eddie Murphy (sweet, we just saved a pile of cash on special effects), as well as that Israeli assassin and hairstylist who looks like Adam Sandler (crap, we just spent a pile of cash on wigs) and that mysterious evil essence that says man's time on Earth is done, even yours, Marky Mark (wait, what did M. Night Shyamalan do with our pile of cash?). It's a great time to be a Fantasy Moguls player, and a time that reminds all of us here at Moguls Central that movies rule and this is heck of a way to make a living. If you've been playing since the first Moguls leagues hit the Web, then we're happy (and honored) to still have you aboard. Thanks for liking us. (If we were Julia Roberts or Sally Field, we'd keep right up on babbling until Gil Cates opened the trapdoor behind the podium.) If you're new to The Game (almost as cool as the one that ate up Michael Douglas), then we're pleased to meet you. Either way, we hope you'll enjoy a week's worth of special contributions from our regular Swamis of the Cinema.

It is time to get very serious about the first major summer blockbuster Iron Man (Paramount), which will debut Thursday night at 8 p.m. at multiplexes from coast-to-coast. My sources tell me that this Robert Downey Jr. vehicle about a hard-drinking billionaire who creates a fantastic iron suit is actually “out-tracking” last summer’s Dreamworks/Paramount smash Transformers.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook and on MySpace.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Hollywood is heading into its biggest season after a very solid weekend. Last year, on the weekend before the release of mega-blockbuster Spider-Man 3 (Sony), the top 12 movies generated $62.2 million. This year, on the three-day prior to the release of Paramount's Iron Man, the top 12 have scored an estimated $80.6 million. That's a 25 percent year-over-year increase, and four films will finish with $10 million-plus.

As of Monday night, I projected that Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo (Warner Bros.) would win this final pre-Iron Man (Paramount) weekend, and I'm standing by that, although I don't expect any new film or holdover to top $15 million.

Arthouse films usually rely on Festivals to build up a reputation. Set critics and audiences on fire in a key film festival, and your movie will multiply its chances of getting a theatrical distribution and finding success along the way. And, by this time next week, the most important Film Festival of the planet will have unveiled its 2008 selections. The prestigious Cannes Film Festival, on the sunny French Riviera.

Good day one and all, and welcome back to Bard's Eye View, your own person guidebook to the ultra-smashes, the mega-flops, and the unbelievably ordinary of upcoming cinematic developments. Whether you are a youngster taking a break from cramming for finals, a seasoned professional taking a gander on your lunch break, or super-intelligent chimp who banged just the right combination of keys to bring up this article, to you I say, in order, welcome, welcome, and eep ook aaa aaa ooo ooo gnaaa Heston had it coming. (Wink.)

Summer blockbuster season is just a week away, and I have been working my regular industry contacts to get an early feel for the first two weekends in May. The news is very good for Iron Man (Paramount), but Speed Racer (Warner Bros.) is a huge question mark.

Greetings, Moguls! Welcome to the latest Tip of the Week. In order to make way for the special "shenanigans" I mentioned in my last column, I'm covering the Studs and Duds (and Wild Cards) of May a little bit before the beginning of the month — but that just means you'll have that much more time to contemplate making some changes to your slate, should you decide to. It also means I get to talk about a whopping 15 films! Some of these, especially the studs, are pretty darn expensive, yes, but the price tag is high because come May, moviegoers will contradict Shakespeare (or is it Shrykespeare?) and make much ado about them. Without any further ado on my part, then, let's get started!

The final weekend before the arrival of Paramount's Iron Man is shaping up to be an interesting tussle between a classic "guy movie" and a comedy with purely feminine appeal.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook and on MySpace.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Judd Apatow, Hollywood's reigning ruler of raunchy comedy, is in a mild slump. After the critical and commercial successes of last Summer's Superbad and Knocked Up, he could do no wrong, but then came the disastrous Walk Hard and, a few weeks ago, he unleashed another bomb as a producer, the poorly received Drillbit Taylor. Now along comes Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal), an extension of the Apatow R-rated raunchy comedy brand, and, despite excellent reviews, it's finished a somewhat disappointing No. 2 for the weekend.

Forbidden Kingdom (Lionsgate), featuring martial arts superstars Jet Li and Jackie Chan, will likely win the box office weekend of April 18-20. With generally positive reviews and a family-friendly PG-13 rating, Kingdom has 7 percent Un-Aided Awareness (buzz) and a Total Aware of 76 percent, according to my studio sources. It has the strongest Definite Interest among Under 25s of the four new releases (53 percent with Males Under 25 and 32 percent with Females Under 25). An excellent 25 percent of young males name this martial arts fantasy film as their first choice, and it could even get a decent family bounce on Saturday. I'm forecasting a $17 million-$20 million opening weekend and $37 million-$42 million domestic.

Spring has barely begun (in a purely meteorological sense), and yet it's already time to announce the forthcoming arrival of the summer movie season. It feels strange, but that's what we will discuss today for my newest overview of limited release films. So prepare your sunglasses, put the big sweaters back in the closet, and get ready to ... lock yourself up in a nice air-conditioned movie theater. Of course, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, it may be the other way around, and in that case, uh, get ready to warm up in a nice heated theater.

Greetings, Moguls! Welcome to the latest Tip of the Week. Upcoming summer blockbuster fare ranges (as it always does) from sequels and franchise continuations to book and TV show adaptations, and heck, there are even a few original ideas out there — but all of them can be boiled down into one of two categories, depending on whether or not the movie's star power is part of its box office appeal. Some films sell themselves chiefly on the story concept, or the source material, or even a director or producer.

Greetings to all Fantaversians, and welcome back to Bard's Eye View, the place to come if you want, at a quick glance, one man's considered opinions about the latest and the greatest of what Hollywood (and other exotic filmic locales) have to offer. Whether you are equipped with a nifty laptop or palmtop that costs more than my car, with a microprocessor so fast that you can finish reading this column before I've even finished writing it, or whether you are sitting at an outmoded dinosaur of a PC located next to the water-heater in your mother's basement, with only the obnoxiously loud washer/dryer for company and a hopelessly slow dial-up modem as a means of connection, I bid you welcome. Just make sure to give those clothes a thorough shaking before folding, static cling is one of those unsung blights on humanity that never seems to make the papers. (Wink.)

Greetings everyone, and welcome to your weekly appointment with arthouse cinema. When one begins to get really passionate about movies, tastes either shorten, or broaden. Some specialize in martial arts pictures, others in South American cinema, or even in Bollywood films. If you get hooked by all different kinds of features, genres and nationalities though, you're in for an atypical lifestyle. You see so many films, in so many theaters, that you begin to spot other individuals you recognize as being from the same species as yourself, whether they are buffs or geeks, or a bit of both.

Greetings one and all, and welcome once again of Bard's Eye View, your weekly broadcast for breaking information on the latest in filmic developments, where I, your very own talking head (no, not like David Byrne, though that would be awesome, or Max Headroom, which would be even awesomer), do my best to lay the groundwork for you to build the best possible slate of movies for your spring and summer leagues. There will be no breaking news about the conflict in Iraq, no hand-wringing about the price of crude oil and no "you heard it here first" blurbs about where Lindsay Lohan was recently seen coking it up. For that, you'll have to go to Fox News. (Wink.)

Greetings, Moguls! Now that April-June leagues have begun, it's high time to look a little more in-depth at June's offerings. After all, even though June is the last month of the current season, there might still be some cutoff bargains to be had. If you so choose, you can shell out the big bucks for Kung Fu Panda, at $37 in Ultimate leagues and $39 in Box Office, but no other film opening in June costs more than $21 in Ultimate (Wall-E) or $14 in Box Office (Wall-E again). This week I'm looking at six of June's mini-tentpole releases — the ones besides Kung Fu Panda — to determine which of them are big time values for their price, and which ones are just a lonely mirage during the sweltering summer.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook and on MySpace.

SATURDAY NIGHT: It's been a disappointing weekend for Hollywood as holdover 21 (Sony) has trumped three new wide studio releases. Based on Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House, 21 grabbed another $6.35 million on Saturday, and the Kevin Spacey-produced card counting thriller will wrap up its second weekend with a solid $15.5 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, if I say that I'm an arthouse man, you will agree. Some see that as a defect, some as a mark of quality. But the truth is, one should not always put films into distinctive categories, the work of an auteur or a blockbuster, an independent or a studio film. Where do you put Zodiac or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford? Can't they qualify as "arthouse films?"

Hello once again, and welcome to the latest installment of Bard's Eye View, the place to come for the lowdown on the best, the worst, and the undeniably "meh" of this spring's upcoming roster of films. Whether you are celebrating your survival in the just-completed first round of the first-ever Super League — or, better yet, whooping it up at a hard-earned Immunity Marker — or whether you are crying into your beer at your early exit, I bid you welcome. I told you people it was going to be exciting, didn't I? Well, it's interesting to note that some of the "Regulars," some of the most practiced Moguls around, were unable to make the cut in one or more of the tournaments ... so that tells you just how fierce this competition is. Not me, of course. I rule. (Wink.)

Hello once again, and welcome to the latest edition of Bard's Eye View, the first class cabin of the Fantaverse from which I act as your eye in the sky, peering through the hazy clouds to offer my skillful analysis on all of Hollywood's cinematic attempts to entertain us. Whether you're a coach class traveler en route to a family vacation spot, or a high rollin' sonofagun with your own private cabin, welcome aboard. Please make sure your carry-ons are stowed in the overhead compartment, and that all electronic devices are turned off during takeoff and landing. Oh, and watch out for all the mutha(FILTER ENGAGED)ing snakes.