It’s four weekends at the top for The Hunger Games.

Despite the numbers falling as movies do, The Hunger Games is staying in the top spot again.  The film brought in another $21.5 million this weekend bringing its domestic total to $337 million.

Second place went to the new version of The Three Stooges which broung in a respectable $17.1 million.  The reviews haven’t been the best, however, so it’s somewhat doubtful that this movie will have any staying power.

The Cabin in the Woods opened to $14.85 million which seems a little weak as it has been a little while since a horror film hit the theaters, but we’ll see how it does in the coming weeks. It’s unlikely it will hold up.

Titanic 3D slipped 32.7% to land in fourth place with $11.62 million.  That’s a very decent hold, but apparently people weren’t that anxious to see the film in 3D.

American Reunion took a 50.3% hit, which is fine, but when you didn’t start out that strong, it’s not good. The film fell from second to fifth this week with $10.7 million.

Nothing seems to be really growing any legs as of late outside of The Hunger Games, and the only big release next week is the new Zac Efron romance The Lucky One.  It might be able to knock out the current champ, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

John Carter?  Landed in 18th place with $346,000 bringing its domestic total to $68.7 million.  Foreign is up to $200.6 million, and off of a $250 million budget, this has turned into pretty much a total disaster for Disney.

On a side note, Battleship, which opens domestically on May 18, has already opened in the foreign markets and is actually doing well.  It’s hit $58 million so far, but no word on its final budget.

Despite facing some stiff competitors this weekend, The Hunger Games remained in the top spot.

With another $33.5 million, The Hunger Games won its third consecutive weekend at the box office and it saw it surpass $300 million in domestic box office.  With its international take, the film now has a worldwide gross of $459.9 million.

Coming in second was American Reunion, the latest entry in the American Pie series.  It opened with $21.5 million, one of the weakest openings yet in the series.  I personally got tired of the franchise after the second film, so not sure why they’ve kept going with it.

Third place went to the 3D re-release of Titanic, which many thought would take the top spot.  It brought in $17.35 million, and in total has so far taken in $25 million.  The 3D conversion is said to have cost $18 million, so we’ll see if the project ended up being a good idea or not.

Wrath of the Titans slid 55.1% to $15 million and is looking to pretty much go down in the books as a flop as it had a $150 million budget.  With only $59 million in domestic box office after two weekends, things are definitely not going well.

Coming in fifth was Mirror, Mirror with a 39% decline to $11 million.  While it’s still not a success, that’s a healthy hold for a second weekend.

Surprisingly 21 Jump Street was in sixth with $10 million.  This really is looking like it’s turning into a surprise success.  What’s not a surprise success?  John Carter landed in ninth place with $820,000.

Next weekend is looking good for The Hunger Games again as the big releases are Lockout, The Cabin in the Woods and The Three Stooges. None of these three films look set for successful launches.

Raise your hand if you’re shocked that The Hunger Games won its second weekend at the box office. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Despite slipping 59.9% from its opening weekend, The Hunger Games still took in a large haul at the box office with $61.1 million.  This ranks as the seventh best second weekend for a film ever and brings its domestic gross up to $251 million. Including its overseas numbers, the first film in the series has now brought in $364,933,000 worldwide.

Far more lackluster this weekend was Wrath of the Titans.  The sequel to the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans brought in $34.2 million in its opening weekend compared to the previous film doing $63.8 million in the same time span.  And this one cost $150 million to make compared to $125 million last time around.  Not good.

Opening in third place was the Snow White comedy Mirror, Mirror, which didn’t light the place up with a ho-hum $19 million.

Holding on in fourth place is 21 Jump Street which is doing better than pretty much anyone expected.  It fell 26.7% this weekend to bring in another $15 million.  It has now passed $93 million domestic and should pass $100 million by next weekend at the latest.  For a $45 million gamble, it looks to be paying off.

The Lorax came in fifth with $8 million, still hanging in there despite some fairly harsh reviews.

And where was John Carter?  With $2 million it was able to land in sixth place.  It’s now done $66.2 million domestic, but $188.3 million internationally for a worldwide total of $254,510,000. With a $250 million dollar budget, an estimated $100 million in marketing and then splitting revenues with exhibiters and such, Disney has announced they will put a $200 million dollar loss on paper for this film.

The only big release next week is the 3D version of Titanic. It’ll be interesting to see how it does this time around and if it’ll be able to knock The Hunger Games out of the number one spot.

The only thing shocking about this weekend at the box office was that the early estimates were low.

To no one’s surprise, The Hunger Games took the top spot at the box office.  After it’s success on Friday we all know it was coming, it was just a question of what the final number would be.  It came in with $155 million for the weekend, making it the third largest opening weekend ever, and just $3 million shy of second place holder, The Dark Knight.  It was the biggest opening weekend ever for a non-sequel, and that is saying a lot actually.  Internationally the film brought in $59.25 million in only one day of screenings making the worldwide gross for the first three days $214.25 million.  Expect to see just about every young adult novel ever turned into a movie soon.

Coming in second was the surprisingly successful 21 Jump Street which slid a very respectable 41.3% from last weekend to bring in $21.3 million.  It’s domestic gross is now over $71 million, with an additional $16 million from foreign markets.

The Lorax landed in third place with another $13.1 million. This film is holding on surprisingly well considering early reviews weren’t the best.

Languishing in fourth place was Disney’s newest disaster, John Carter. The first of a proposed series of films slipped another dismal 63.1% this weekend to bring in an anemic $5 million. Domestic gross now stands at $62.3 million off of a $250 million budget. The only saving grace for this movie is the foreign markets seem to like it more with $172.1 million coming in from overseas thus far. When you factor in the higher expenses of overseas distribution, however, things are still not good.

Act of Valor made its way back into the top five this week, but with only $2 million in revenue.

Next weeks big releases are Mirror, Mirror and Wrath of the Titans.  While I think Wrath will open strong, I’m going to call it right now that The Hunger Games will win its second weekend with ease.  It’s going to take a 50 to 55% hit from this weekend for sure, but a $70 to $75 million weekend is going to be hard to compete with.  We’ll just have to see what happens.

Apparently some big screen remakes of old TV shows can actually work.

In a rather larger surprise, 21 Jump Street not only did well at the box office this weekend taking in $35 million, but it also fared well with the critics. Who knew?  With a budget of $42 million, which seems a bit high for this type of film, it looks set to get into the black without much trouble.

The Lorax slipped another 41.3% to being in $22.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $158.4 million. The film has done so well that there is talk of the same team next working on an animated adaption of The Cat in the Hat.

John Carter slipped 55.2% which normally wouldn’t be that bad for a second weekend, but when your first weekend was pretty bad, and you had a $250 million budget, you know it’s making some Disney execs sweat.  The film brought in $13.5 million this weekend to make its domestic total $53.1 million.  Overseas the film is doing a bit better and brought in a total of $126.1 million thus far.

Project X keeps chugging along and brought in just over $4 million this weekend to bring its domestic total up to $48.1 million.

Rounding out the top five was A Thousand Words which brought in $3.75 million.

Next weeks sees the release of the highly anticipated The Hunger Games at a whopping 4,000 screens across the United States.

And after only four weeks of release, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance didn’t crack into the top 49 movies, which makes me wonder if it has already been pulled from theaters.

That thud you heard this weekend was John Carter slamming into The Lorax and falling to the ground.

Slipping a respectable 44.1%, The Lorax held on to the number one spot for a second weekend with $39.1 million.  That brings its domestic total to $121.95 million off of a $70 million budget.

The big news of the weekend, however, was Disney’s John Carter landed with a huge thud in second place with $30.6 million off of a $250 million budget.  It has done $70.6 million overseas for a worldwide total of $101.2 million.  It’s going to have a heck of a time recouping its budget, and I will say again that I think this film has been horribly mis-marketed.  For whatever reason Disney opted to just go with “John Carter” as the title as opposed to stressing the Mars aspect of the series, something that has been attached to the books since day one.  Whatever their reasoning, I’m thinking we won’t see be a sequel.

Project X slipped to third place, losing 45.1% to come in with $11.55 million.  I finally figured out which movie this is … good marketing, folks.

Horror film Silent House opened in fourth place with just a hair over $7 million.

Slipping to fifth place was Act of Valor, the film filled with real life SEAL team members.

The only major release next week is the abysmal looking 21 Jump Street, so don’t expect to see the top five changing much next week.  It will, however, be interesting to see what happens with John Carter.

Apparently the movie going audience was ready for a new animated feature about the environment.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax opened to a huge $70.7 million, making it the sixth best ever opening for an animated feature, and the second best for a non-sequel behind only The Simpsons.  Seeing as the budget was $70 million, it’s not in profit yet, but it looks like it has a pretty good shot at being a success.

Coming in second was another new release, Project X.  The film came in with $20.7 million, which is impressive as I’m not sure I’ve seen even one TV commercial for this film.

Act of Valor fell 44% to come in third with $13.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $45.2 million off of a $12 million budget. Seeing as they bought four ads during the Super Bowl this year, who knows if it is making a profit yet.

Holding on to the fourth position is Safe House which fell another 34.1% to bring in $7.2 million. It appears Denzel Washington still has some holding power at the box office.

Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds fell to fifth place, losing 55.1% from last week to bring in $7 million. As I said last weekend, apparently no one was in the mood for a Tyler Perry drama.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance? Ninth place, falling another 47.8% to bring in $4.7 million. It’s worldwide box office now stands at $88,981,000 off of a $57 million budget. Perhaps it won’t be quite the train wreck I first thought it would be.

Next weeks biggest releases will be Disney’s John Carter and Silent House. Why Disney decided to not include “of Mars” in the John Carter in the title is still a mystery to most, but we’ll see if that gamble pays off.

Seen all those commercials for John Carter? Still not sure what the heck what it’s about? Well, Disney has released an extended 10-minute scene that will still not answer your questions.

Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series 11-novel series, they tell a tale of a Civil War veteran who finds himself transported to Mars during a time of war.  From the commercials, you mainly see Mars, from the scene below you mainly see him before he’s transported, and somewhere in the middle is a whole bunch of confused movie goers.

Why Disney opted to take this marketing strategy with a film that could launch a series is beyond me, but they have for more money than I, so let them worry about it.

John Carter opens on March 9.

It’s time for trailers to come spilling out, and there have been two big ones this week, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows & John Carter.

First up is the second film in the re-imagined world of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role and Guy Ritchie directing. The first film was fantastic and exciting, and it looks like more of the same in the second one. The addition of Noomi Rapace (European version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series) to the film is sure not to hurt either.

Here is the official synopsis of the film that releases Dec. 16th, 2011.

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room… until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty.

Mixing business with pleasure, Holmes tracks the clues to an underground gentlemen’s club, where he and his brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) are toasting Dr. Watson on his last night of bachelorhood. It is there that Holmes encounters Sim (Noomi Rapace), a Gypsy fortune teller, who sees more than she is telling and whose unwitting involvement in the prince’s murder makes her the killer’s next target. Holmes barely manages to save her life and, in return, she reluctantly agrees to help him.

Something about the look and feel of this trailer just feels “off” to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

The investigation becomes ever more dangerous as it leads Holmes, Watson and Sim across the continent, from England to France to Germany and finally to Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history.

The second big trailer this week is for John Carter. Based on the classic series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this film covers the first book in the 11 novel series, A Princess of Mars. Why they didn’t include that in the title is puzzling to me as “John Carter” by itself is not a name that screams “sci-fi epic.” Obviously Disney wants to turn this into a series, but we’ll have to see how this first one does at the box office.