SUNDAY 9:00 a.m. (Pacific): Warner Bros. has told me this morning that Sex and the City scored an estimated $17.7 million on Saturday, and they are calling for $55.7 million for opening weekend. That marks a 35 percent drop from Friday-to-Saturday as this "two-quadrant" phenomenon (i.e., both Females Under 25 and Females Over 25) proved to be incredibly front-loaded. The truth, however, is that anything more than $30 million for the weekend is still a triumph.

The top two grossing playdates for Sex and the City were both in Manhattan. Regal's E-Walk in Times Square checks in at $195,000 through Saturday, followed by AMC's Lincoln Square Theatres with $181,000. The third-best playdate appears to be The Arclight in Hollywood with $144,000.

Greetings, Moguls! Welcome once again to this little corner of the Internet called the Tip of the Week. There are a plethora of films in the new June-August season whose prospects could be either brightened or ruined when the ratings board (more formally known as the Classification and Ratings Administration or CARA) of the Motion Picture Association of America assigns them a rating. Some films may thrive (or fail) because of the one that's already been assigned. With those notions in mind, this week I'm exploring the significance of MPAA ratings on any given movie's Fantasy Moguls viability.

The verdict has fallen. Everyone held their breath, but now we know. No, not that the new Indiana Jones movie is a huge hit — no need to be a soothsayer to have seen that coming. Rather, Sean Penn, head of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival (you can call him "Mr. President" if you want) has finally announced the winners of the most important film festival on the planet. Given that June 13 sees only one arthouse film being released (Werner Herzog's latest documentary, Encounters at the End of the World), I will write about that next week, and today focus solely on Cannes, a true fish pond for future arthouse contenders.

Greetings fellow Fantaversians, and welcome back to Bard's Eye View, where I, your Muse of Moguldom (™ Nico Enterprises), attempt, through logic, purple prose and scintillating repartee, to nudge, poke, prod, jostle, persuade, dissuade and/or otherwise coerce you into picking only the best films for your Fantasy Moguls slate. While my advice may be free, the rewards for success can be vast and far-reaching, just like lowering your cholesterol, child-proofing your home and not confusing dish soap with sunblock before going out in the Arizona sun. Of all the color shades you might want your skin to be, I daresay "Maine Lobster Red" is not one of them. (Wink.)

SUNDAY 9:00 p.m. (Pacific): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will likely be the all-time No. 2 Memorial Day opening and the all-time No. 5 five-day opening in movie history by Monday night. IJ4 dipped an estimated 12 percent from Saturday's robust $37 million for a a very solid $32.56 million Sunday for a traditional three-day of $100.56 million. I am projecting a 21 percent drop on Memorial Day for a probable $21.72 million. That will push the first Indiana Jones movie in 19 years to $126.28 million for the long weekend. As Memorial Day openings go, Harrison Ford and his fedora trail only Johnny Depp and his three-cornered captain's hat.

FRIDAY 8:00 a.m. (Pacific): Early box office results for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are very good, but shy of the meteoric predictions by many box office analysts, including yours truly. This morning Paramount has reported that the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg collaboration, the first Indiana Jones sequel in 19 years, grabbed an estimated $25 million on Thursday. That is well off the $50 million haul enjoyed by Lucas's Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith on Thursday, May 19, 2005. Crystal Skull was thought to have a chance to surpass Revenge of the Sith's $172.8 million five-day record, but that now becomes a very uphill climb.

If you thought arthouse films were to be ignored during the summer season just because it didn't seem possible that any small film would be worth anything against the Hollywood tentpoles, well, I hope you have now changed your mind in the wake of the past few days. Last weekend, the Norwegian film Reprise swatted away box-office behemoth The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Capsian and locked up five PTA points to go along with its 7.4 IMDb User Rating. So, if you've been an arthouse hater in the past, it may not be a bad idea to begin thinking about inserting an independent film here and there into your Fantasy Moguls studio slates. And this week, I  have a whopping four films to present to you, four eclectic features that will open June 6 in the shadow of Hollywood giants Kung Fu Panda and You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) is about to begin a monumental Memorial Day weekend run. The film will open at 12:01 a.m. at thousands of locations across America. Officially, Paramount has secured 4,260 playdates for the Lucasfilm production, and the screen count will be something just over 9,500. The generally well-reviewed sequel will perform extraordinarily well in after-midnight shows. As of 8:00 p.m. (Pacific), high-grossing Arclight Theatres in Hollywood has nine sold-out shows, starting at 12:01 a.m., 12:15 a.m., 12:16 a.m., 12:17 a.m., 12:30 a.m., 12:31 a.m., 12:32 a.m., 12:45 a.m. and 12:46 a.m. That is completely unprecedented.

Hello, good day, and welcome once again to Bard's Eye View, where I, your humble filmic analyst, attempt to probe and dissect the latest upcoming large-scale releases with the deftness of a surgeon and the timing and accuracy of a Swiss watch. And I say "attempt" with as much aplomb as I can muster, given that my recent predictions for Made of Honor and What Happens in Vegas show what a fallible, fickle job assessing box office trends can be. It's nice to be right, but there's always that proverbial banana peel in your path, isn't there? And who'da thunk Speed Racer would tank THAT massively? I mean, $18 million?? Yikes.

Greetings, Moguls! As I'm sure you've all read, if Steve Mason's numbers hold up, then we could be seeing a new 5-day record from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this week. Big fist-pump for those of you with it on your slates, eh? Even with only two weeks to go in May, by the end of the month it very well might have $250 million in the bank. Problem is, the pricing shamans of Fantasy Moguls saw this coming — it's affordable, and a great value in all league types, but it'll still run you upwards of $25, no matter which season you're in. It's a great slate anchor, but what should you do with the rest of your budget? Surely you don't want to fill the other seven slots with bargain basement picks, so this week I've got a list of what I'm calling my "mid-range marvels" —  the six surest bets priced between $6 and $24, for both Ultimate Movie Moguls and Box Office Moguls leagues.