Adding to the potential pain felt by Transformers fans by the news coming that Michael Bay may be heading up a Transformers 4, there may be a fifth installment on the way as well.

According to Variety Paramount is looking into filming the next two Transformers films back-to-back to cut down on production costs and allow the makers of the bazillion licensed goods to get going on all of the items children will be begging their parents for.

Shia LaBeouf has said he won’t return for any more movies in the series, which means we will miss out on this sort of great acting.

In his place it has been rumored for some time that Jason Statham may be joining the franchise. According to sources no offer has been made to the action star as of yet, but considering how long this rumor has circulated, I would suggest taking it with a generous helping of salt.

However, I have a crazy idea, how about instead of worrying about a human lead, you actually focus on the Transformers?  I know, what a crazy idea.  Yes, you can have a human involved, but worry about the Autobots and the Decepticons for once as the series is named for them after all.

It took a dolphin to knock the lion out of the top box office spot.

Dolphin Tale took the top spot at the box office this weekend, leading a pack of non-new releases from cracking into the top three. The movie based on a real life “tail” (ha! See what I did there?!?) dropped 25.6% from last weekend, but scored a healthy $14.25 million. The percentage drop was far better than expected, and took many by surprise.

Holding on to second place was the Brad Pitt vehicle, Moneyball. It dipped 35.9% which was a bit steeper than some expected, but wasn’t horrible by any stretch of the imagination and it brought in $12.5 million.

The 3D re-release of The Lion King took a 49.6% fall to bring in $11 million.  Considering it comes out on home video on Tuesday, the $79.7 million the re-release has brought in over three weekends is nothing to sneeze at and brings the lifetime earnings of the film to $408.2 million.

Fourth place was the best showing for any new release this week and saw the cancer-themed 50/50 bring in $8.85 million over the three days. Considering the subject matter, it wasn’t a horrible showing.

Rounding out the top five was Courageous with $8.8 million which was an impressive showing for only 1,161 locations.

Following up some recent disasters at the box office, the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It took a massive 80% hit from last weekend and brought in a paltry $400,000 brining its three weekend run to $9.2 million off of a $24 million budget. Meanwhile, Killer Elite starring Jason Statham fell 48.1% to $4.85 million bringing its two week total to $17.4 million off of a $70 million budget.  In short, things are not going well in several different genres of films at the moment, but that certainly won’t stop Hollywood from continuing to over spend.

Next week sees the debuts of The Ides of March and Real Steel.

Despite predictions that The Lion King wouldn’t stay #1 this week, but apparently you can’t knock the king off his throne.

The power of Disney is a tough one to overcome, and while some analysts thought The Lion King couldn’t hold on to #1 for a second week, it did, bringing in a remarkable $22.1 million.  For a 17-year-old film, you have to give it a hat tip for having that sort of draw.

Moneyball was presumed to knock it out of #1, and after it won Friday’s box office everyone presumed it would win the weekend.  It brought in a decent $20.6 million, but it just didn’t have enough gas behind it to knock out a beloved Disney classic.

Coming in third was Dolphin Tale with $20.26 million, and there is some speculation it may actually take second when the final grosses are reported later today.  I would imagine it would have done better without another family film out there, but I’m not sure anyone could have predicted this current weekend playing out the way it did.

Abduction was expected to do better than fourth seeing as it stars Taylor Lautner from the Twilight series, but it raked in only $11.2 million, well below its expectations.  I think the majority of the actors from that series are in for a rude awakening as they try to find other work with the conclusion of that series.  They weren’t the ones drawing folks in, and compared to the Harry Potter kids, they also don’t have the apparent talent to back it up.

Rounding out the top five was Killer Elite starring Jason Statham. This was the weakest opening yet for one of his films brining in only $9.5 million. Perhaps everyone is finally realizing he plays the exact same role in every film.

Last week’s new releases of Straw Dogs tumbled 59 percent to an embarrassingly weak $2.1 million in ninth place. Fairing even worse was the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It which fell 53 percent to 10th place with an anemic $2 million. Apparently Ms. Parker is really going to need to consider another Sex and the City at this point.

Next week will see the releases of 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?, which sounds like another week of lackluster debuts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another repeat for The Lion King.

Conan the Barbarian?  Down to 56 theaters and $20,800.  Meanwhile, Bridesmaids, which hit home video this week, had 111 theaters still and did $78.800.  I’m sorry … I love a train wreck.