What on earth is happening at the movies? Where the heck is everyone? I didn't catch any of this week's new releases because I was away -- like, out-of-the-country away -- but what was everybody else's excuse? None of the three new wide releases could scare up a decent-size audience, and none could bust past last week's No. 1 movie, 21 ... and even that holdover at the No. 1 spot could scrape together only $15.1 million. Pathetic. The weeks-long trend of hardly anyone going to the movies continues.

It's getting so that I'm almost afraid to look at the box office numbers every Monday morning.

In the Nos. 2 and 3 spots were two of the those almost-ignored new movies: Leatherheads, George Clooney's screwball romantic comedy, earning a dismal $13.5 million for the weekend; and the kiddie adventure Nim's Island, close behind with $13.3 million. The holdover Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! was at No. 4 over its fourth weekend, taking in $9.1 million, which pushed the film past the $125 million mark. At No. 5 was the not-screened-for-critics horror flick The Ruins, also new this weekend, which couldn't manage better than $7.8 million.

Like I said: pathetic. And depressing, too. Are audiences giving up on movies in favor of other entertainment, and will they ever come back? Surefire hits like the upcoming Indiana Jones movie will do okay, I bet. But will those be just blips on the movie radar?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MaryAnn Johanson (email me)
reviews, reviews, reviews! at FlickFilosopher.com

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