Prediction above for span between 3/25/2011 and 3/27/2011

 Another month will come to an end, and once again, it ends on a down note, with the countdown to Major League Baseball more exciting than this.  In this weekend, Rodrick will try to rule, but Sucker Punch will not go down without a fight.

After a fiasco in the animation department (Legends of the Guardians), Zack Snyder goes back to live action as Sucker Punch will kick it's way into 3033 movie houses.  The female protagonist will help broaden the female demographics, with the action and hot girls will try to bring in men.  The marketing has been very aggressive, especially for the IMAX theaters, which is advertised as an event.  Reviews are not good at all, and the plot may be confusing, which will prevent it from blockbuster status, but the PG-13 rating helps bring in the teens.  BOM polls are slightly higher than Kick Ass, and with the IMAX release, the PTA should be slightly higher.  I am going with a PTA in the $7k range.

One year ago, Diary of a Wimpy Kid opened strongly and became a spring sleeper.  Today, the second installment of the continuing series, Rodrick Rules, will open the books in 3167 schoolhouses.  Kid sequels are tough to read (no pun intended), cause they rarely open higher than it's predecessor.  BOM polls and buzz are about the same as the first film, which itself, doesn't give a good indicator cause it could either mean that it has awareness and interest based off the first film, or off the book.  Either way, I am going to use the formula of kid book adaptation sequel formula of the PTA dropping about 10% from the original.  Following the formula, the PTA should be in the mid $6k range, giving it a slightly lower opening than the freshman film.  Maybe the cheese scared them away.

Among holdovers, Limitless open a bit higher than what some people thought.  WOM is middling, although with Sucker Punch attracting the younger crowd, it won't get hit too much.  So it will drop in the mid 40%, just like most thrillers of this type usually do.  Ditto for The Lincoln Lawyer.  Rango will now have competition from families, and teens, meaning that the drop will be bigger than last time.  Battle LA will take another direct hit from the Sucker Punch girls, so another 50%+ drop is in store.  Paul's sci-fi element means that it should take the biggest direct hit from Sucker Punch, and being a fan-base movie, it will drop over half and many fan driven movies do.  Red Riding Hood will also take a direct hit from the female demo from Sucker Punch, giving a bigger drop than last weekend.  Adjustment Bureau will drop by half cause of the theater drop.  Mars Needs Mom will take a big hit as well, not only from Rodrick, but it will loses all of it's IMAX theaters.  Ouch.

Whether Rodrick will rule the top spot from the fighting broads, the top ten should total in the low $90 million range, which will once again, put it about 20% lower than the weekend of last year.  This is the Scottie signing out.  Feel free to beat me up in the comment box below.