Well, after getting off to a stubbornly slow start, 2008 has definitely picked up speed. Unbelievably, despite its many promising titles, only one film released in the first four months of this year achieved true blockbuster status by crossing the $100 million threshold (that being Horton Hears a Who). Ever since May started, however, it seems that just about every major title that has come out has had a better opening weekend than people anticipated (with the notable exception of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and, of course, Speed Racer). Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull have, respectively, reached and are about to reach that venerable $300 million plateau, and Kung Fu Panda and the surprising Sex and the City have already grossed nine figures, with The Incredible Hulk and Get Smart on their way. Boy, thank GOD for summer.

On a personal level, it's been a joy, week after week, to give you the "tale of the tape," as it were, on this weekly conveyor belt of hits. This week, however, I will be taking a short break from that trend. Having already talked about make-or-break-your-slate films like WALL-E, Hancock and Hellboy II, and with the great big The Dark Knight epic looming on my column schedule one week from now, this is as good a time as any to talk about of three films that are basically roster-fillers ... which are no less important in the grand scheme. It feels great when your big boys produce for you, but it feels even better to pick up a throwaway for $2, only to have it explode in theaters, as anyone who had Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and (most recently) The Strangers can tell you. The three films I'll be talking about today can definitely be classified as "bargain bin picks."

Available for under $10 in April and May leagues, and costing a meager $7 in the June Ultimate Movie Moguls leagues ($11 in Box Office Moguls) is Eddie Murphy's latest outing, Meet Dave (July 11). This will be Murphy's first foray into "sci-fi/comedy" since the epically disastrous The Adventures of Pluto Nash in 2002, a film that didn't even earn $5 million in theaters and crash-landed with an abysmal 3.7 IMDb User Rating. Now the Mighty Murph is back, playing multiple roles AGAIN. In particular, Murphy plays the character of "Dave," an entity that looks like a normal human being but is actually a human-shaped spaceship operating by two-inch-tall aliens (who look suspiciously human, despite their height) and captained by an alien who looks just like, you guessed it, the Good Ship Dave.

I remember when I was a teenager, and Eddie Murphy was the funniest guy on the planet. From his stint on Saturday Night Live, doing his now-classic "Gumby," "Buckwheat" and "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood" sketches, to his becoming a breakout comedic star in films like 48 HRS., Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, Harlem Nights and The Distinguished Gentleman. Even his less-than-stellar outings, like The Golden Child, Boomerang and Vampire in Brooklyn, had their moments , as did the various sequels to some of the above movies. And, of course, his voice talents were pitch-perfect for Mulan and the entire Shrek series.

I think, however, that when Fast Eddie did The Nutty Professor in 1996, his career reached a tipping point. He started a generous sideline in films that are more for kids than adults (such as Doctor Dolittle, Daddy Day Care and The Haunted Mansion) ... which is fine, except that it also caused him to take role after role in films that were fair at best, horrible at worst, one after another: Metro, Life, Bowfinger, Showtime, I Spy, and last year's Norbit. I thought maybe his career was on the verge of a turnaround with his impressive supporting role in the Oscar-nominated Dreamgirls, but a look at his upcoming projects suggests to me that he intends to continue on his road to mediocrity.

There's no denying the man has talent. He can, given a good enough makeup job, play any age, gender, race and weight class. What was an interesting spectacle in Coming to America, however, and played for all it was worth in the Nutty Professor films, has become cliché. How long will it be before they make a film where Eddie just plays EVERYBODY? I am, frankly, too disappointed in what I've seen of Eddie in the last decade to really go in-depth about Meet Dave, which is directed by Brian Robbins (whose directorial resume includes Norbit, The Shaggy Dog and Good Burger, which really should tell you all you need to know). If you can bear it, watch the trailer, and you'll see what I mean.

Norbit almost cracked $100 million in spring of last year, despite being as offensive as all outdoors, and Dave is rated PG for "bawdy and suggestive humor," but that's about it. A lot of preteens will probably be curious about this film, which looks like a scene deemed too stupid to even be in Men in Black, so look for a decent opening, perhaps $20 million if the theater count is wide enough. It probably won't make much more than a couple of Top 5 points or $60 million overall, nor should it. And if you need me to remind you that the User Rating will be woefully low, then hey, welcome to Fantasy Moguls! Where have you been hiding out, stranger?

For classic adventure stories, one cannot do much better than Jules Verne. The man who penned such literary classics as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, and Around the World in 80 Days died over a century ago, but his works continue to live on, prosper and be adapted into full-length films. And, not for the first time, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (July 11) will plunge in the bowels of the planet, as well as the fertile depths of Verne's imagination. This is, however, probably the first time that this has been told in such a manner as to allow for its being promoted (and projected) "in 3D!!"

The new version of this old tale is being directed by long-time visual effects guru Eric Brevig (whose resume includes Men in Black, Pearl Harbor, The Day After Tomorrow and The Island) and it features Brendan Fraser, who appears to have settled nicely into his niche as a hero for family-action-adventure films. He will be taking the lead in August for his third Mummy film, and will be seen again next spring when Inkheart hits screens. (And, lest I forget, the much-anticipated G.I. Joe film, which is also due out next year.)

He's not the greatest actor in the world, but his "big dumb guy/Dad" persona can carry a film, as he has already proven. Here, he plays Trevor, who goes on a quest with his nephew Sean (played by Bridge to Terabithia star Josh Hutcherson) to find his missing brother. Unfortunately, when the boys, along with their guide, fall into a seemingly bottomless crevasse, they discover a wonderful and dangerous world many miles below the surface of our own, complete with volcanoes and dinosaurs.

I honestly don't know much about this film beyond what the one-sheet and the trailer tell me, but fortunately, as far as what it means to you as a Fantasy Moguls player goes, there's really not that much that you need to know. It's available only in the June Box Office leagues (though it may become available in Ultimate when the July leagues start), for the bargain-basement price of $2. And yes, I have no idea just how big a release this is going to get, but it hardly matters.

Even if it only gets played on, say, 1,000 screens, it is easily going to outgross just about everything else that is priced at $2, which, in Box Office is typically all of the limited release and arthouse films, which will give you only a few thousand dollars to a couple of million. Even if this one makes only $10 million in theaters, it's still a good pick ... but if the release is even wider? It could explode (relatively speaking). And the best thing is, it's virtually risk-free and pain-free. You don't have to worry about Top 5 or PTA points, or how bad its User Rating is going to be. And even if it does tank (which it won't), you've only wasted 2 percent of your Box Office budget. Take it. Take it now.

And now for the moment (hopefully) none of you have been waiting for: Space Chimps (July 18), a film that proves that just about anything can get greenlit these days. About the only positive thing I can think to say right now is that the creators of this film decided to animate the bloody thing, rather than Lancelot Link the audience into a homicidal rage. It's being released by 20th Century Fox, who, the last time I looked, suffered from the burden of NOT being Pixar or DreamWorks. The Fox animators did create and release the mega-successful Ice Age movies, as well as Robots ($128 million domestic) and the aforementioned Horton. Technically, however, Chimps is a product Vanguard Animation, whose only two previous films are Valiant (released by Disney) and Happily N'Ever After (released by Lionsgate). If you've had the misfortune of seeing either of those films (and I've seen both), then you now have even LESS reason to see this one.

The story: Ham III (voiced by Hot Rod star Andy Samberg), who is the grandson of the very first simian astronaut, is one of a trio of chimps blasted into outer space in order to ... let's see if I got this right ... "rid a far-away planet of their nefarious leader." Great. Why not call it Flash Gor-illa? Or Bulletproof Monkeys? Or Planet of the ... ah, never mind. Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci and Patrick Warburton also lend their vocal "talents" to this film. By the time Space Chimps hits theaters, we will be well into the second half of summer, and this film will probably be a draw ONLY for little kids whose parents staunchly refuse to subject them to the brooding, nightmarishly awesome spectacle that is The Dark Knight, which opens on the same day. I weep for any adult who would prefer to see this over TDK, or even, for that matter, Mamma Mia! (which also opens on July 18).

This film's User Rating is going to be (surprise!) abominable, it will get absolutely no PTA points and it would take some great celestial conjunction for it to even crack the Top 5. Fantasy  Moguls projects that Space Chimps will rocket away with $29 million dollars, to which I say: feh. Happily and Valiant only took in $34 million COMBINED, and this film doesn't even look THAT interesting. I say $20 million, tops. Regrettably, I just found out that The Longshots has been bumped to August; that, coupled with the fact I passed on The Strangers and already have Henry Poole is Here, means that I have no choice but to pick this turd in my May Ultimate league, as there are no other $2 films left. Fortunately for you, you don't have to fall into the same tar pit. Don't be tempted. And $5 in Box Office? Not worth it. Swing Vote, Death Race and, God help me, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 all look to have more promise than this. Yeesh.

A special thank you to all Fantaversians who answered the call to participate in the 2nd-Half Super League tournaments, which, I am happy to say, were filled to capacity before the deadline. That's right, a full 100 players will be testing their mettle from now until the end of the year, trying to cement their place in the history of Moguldom. The 1st-half tournaments will be making their fourth and final cuts by weekend's end, leaving but a minute fraction of the original field remaining to vie for the first titles to be awarded, and the Full-Year leagues are now almost at their midpoint, with a lot of work left to do. Awesome work, everybody!

Well, that will wrap it up for me for this week. Please return next week, when I will be talking about THAT film. The big one. The monumental event of the summer. The film that people have been eagerly anticipating for an eternity, it seems ... a film that promises career performances from its stars, as well as box-office gold. I am, of course, referring to Mamma Mia!, a theatrical adaptation of the Broadway musical, with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth in a story that promises laughs, romance and lots and lots of ABBA music. And, oh yeah, you know, there's the new Batman movie, which I'm sure no one really cares about.

(P.S. I am totally kidding, I hope you know. Totally. I just want to make that clear before you all flood my inbox with outraged responses, call me at 3 a.m., or drag me into the town square in stocks for a bout of being pelted with rancid tomatoes.)

TTFN (I hope)!

Don't let Shrykespeare off the hook for actually having Space Chimps on one of his studio slates. Give him everything he can handle at shrykespeare42@gmail.com.