Box Office: Invasion of the Superbad Legion

No big surprises for last weekend, though Stardust did less business than I was expecting. Rush Hour 3 took top honors, but made $17 million less than Rush Hour 2 did on its opening weekend, and The Bourne Ultimatum held strong for its second week. Here's the break down:

1. Rush Hour 3: $50.3 million
2. The Bourne Ultimatum: $33.7 million
3. The Simpsons Movie: $11.1 million
4. Stardust: $9 million
5. Underdog: $6.5 million

This week's releases bring aliens, gladiators and teenage horn dogs. Yeah, sounds like my prom too. Here's what's coming:

The Invasion
What's It All About: For the fourth time Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- Jack Finney's novel about aliens creating duplicates of people -- is adapted for the screen, this time featuring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
Why It Might Do Well: Usually three times is the charm, but the third adaptation of Finney's book -- 1993's Body Snatchers -- was a fairly forgettable exercise. With two really strong leads, The Invasion may be a worthy successor to the excellent 1978 version, and this tale of subversion and paranoia seems to be tailor-made for today's audiences.
Why It Might Not Do Well: A third remake? They may have gone to the well once too often.
Number of Theaters: 2,700
Prediction: $12 million

The Last Legion
What's It All About: The Roman Empire is in mid-tumble and a deposed child emperor seeks out Excalibur, a sword once possessed by Julius Caesar and which will one day belong to the legendary King Arthur.
Why It Might Do Well: The trailer promises a lush production with lots of action.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Some folks may assume The Last Legion is a sequel to something called The First Legion. Stranger things have happened.
Number of Theaters: 2,000
Prediction: $7 million

Superbad
What's It All About: Two high school buddies are accepted into different colleges and must contemplate life without each other as well as desperately seeking to rid themselves of that pesky virginity.
Why It Might Do Well: Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen -- both of whom brought us this summer's hilarious Knocked Up -- are involved respectively as producer and writer, with Rogen also acting in the film. Rottentomatos.com is giving this one a whopping 95% fresh rating.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Star Michael Cera was also on a smart and funny series called Arrested Development that failed to pull in ratings. Might the curse have followed him onto the set of Superbad?
Number of Theaters: 2,800
Prediction: $28 million

My method for predicting this coming weekend's top five involved taking the ages of the directors and dividing them by the number of writers, and adding the number of brothers in the Baldwin family. Don't scoff, it's all very scientific.
1. Superbad
2. Rush Hour 3
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Invasion
5. The Simpsons Movie

Here's the ranking from last week's competition. Congratulations to Ethan and Bubba for getting perfect scores.
1. Ethan Stanislawski: 16
1. Bubba8193: 16
2. Josh: 13
2. Ian: 13
3. Matt: 12
3. Anna07: 12
4. Ray: 9
4. Corey: 9
4. Curt: 9
4. jasonsmusicpage: 9
5. Skyler: 8
5. Porcalina: 8
5. Nathan Mathieu: 8
6. Mayorjimmy: 7
6. El Borracho: 7

Please post your prediction for the top five films in the comments section below before 5:00 PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie. Greatness awaits you.