This weekend four new films will try to make a dent at the box office: Anna Faris revisits her ex-boyfriends to see if she missed out on Mr. Right in What’s Your Number? from New Regency Productions, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen tackle cancer in dramedy 50/50 from Mandate Pictures, Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz move in to a ghostly nightmare in Universal’s Dream House  and TriStar releases Christian family/small town police drama Courageous  from the producers of Fireproof. None of these newcomers are packing too much heat and they will be fighting for a place in the Top 5 while holdover films, The Lion King 3D, Dolphin Tale 3D and Moneyball duke it out for box office supremacy. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate $91.5 million over the weekend, up approximately 9.9% from last year when Sony’s award season entry The Social Network and Warner Bros. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole led the overall Top 10 to a total of $82.4 million. 

Sony’s Moneyball starring Brad Pitt looks to be finishing first for the weekend with Disney’s Lion King 3D right behind it. The Brad Pitt starrer earned an estimated $6.7 million on Friday for a possible $21 million weekend, making it the highest weekend debut of all time for a baseball themed film. Reviews have been terrific and if the film receives any award season buzz (which it will), the film has a chance of nearing the $100 million mark by the end of its run in theatres. 

This weekend, four new releases will attempt to entice audiences into multiplexes; Brad Pitt stars in baseball drama Moneyball from Columbia Pictures, Taylor Lautner steps into leading man territory in action thriller Abduction from Lionsgate, a boy befriends a tailless dolphin in Dolphin Tale 3D from Warner Bros. and Jason Statham and Clive Owen play a game of cat and mouse in action film Killer Elite from Open Road Films. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate $104.5 million over the weekend, up approximately 15% from last year when Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps from 20^th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole  led the overall Top 10 to a total of $88.8 million. 

This weekend a re-release of a classic film and three newcomers will be vying for your hard earned dollars.Disney’s The Lion King roars back into theatres, this time in 3D; FilmDistrict releases Ryan Gosling thriller Drive; Also opening this weekend is Sony Screen Gems remake Straw Dogs starring James Marsden and Sarah Jessica Parker stars in comedy I Don’t Know How She Does It from The Weinstein Co. Each of these films has the potential to make anywhere from $5-$15 million, as does Warner Bros. Contagion which enters its sophomore frame, leading to a five way race for the #1 spot this weekend.    Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate $73.2 million over the weekend, down approximately 13.3% from last year when surprise hits The Town from Warner Bros. and Sony’s Easy A led the overall Top 10 to a total of $84.4 million. 

This weekend the fall movie season officially begins with three new films. Generally this time of year is a wasteland at the box office but that isn’t stopping Warner Bros. from releasing the Steven Soderbergh directed Contagion featuring a huge cast of top tier thespians. After extended sneak peeks last weekend, Lionsgate releases mixed martial arts drama Warrior starring Tom Hardy. The last film for the weekend feels like a film that should open on what is generally one of the slowest box office weekends of the year in that it will be as huge failure at the box office; Sony’s R-rated comedy Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star starring Nick Swardson and produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate $65.2 million over the weekend, up approximately 5.4% from last year when Sony’s horror sequel Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D led the overall Top 10 to a total of $61.7 million. 

The summer movie season officially comes to a close this holiday weekend with three new films debuting in multiplexes nationwide; Focus Features’ R-rated spy thriller The Debt starring Sam Worthington and Helen Mirren gets a jump on the long holiday weekend and opened on Wednesday. The other two new films for the weekend are PG-13 rated horror/sci-fi mockumentary Apollo 18  from The Weinstein Co. and PG-13 creature feature Shark Night 3D from Relativity Media. The last weekend of summer is usually reserved for films that aren’t strong enough to survive during the more competitive weeks of the season and as such expectations are pretty low for these newcomers with Apollo 18 standing the best chance of winning the weekend. If Apollo 18 fails to meet expectations, there is a strong chance that The Help will remain at the top of the charts for the third weekend in a row. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate $67.7 million over the 3 day weekend and $85.6 million over 4 days, down approximately 9.1% and 8.4% respectively from last year when Focus Features’ The American and 20^th Century Fox’s Machete led the overall Top 10 to a 3 day gross of $74.5 million and a 4 day total of $93.5 million.