Gilliam

Cartoonists as film directors:

... Throughout his childhood, [Terry] Gilliam was a voracious reader of comics. “I’ve got a cartoonist’s eye,” he says. “I see the grotesque, my eye goes for the odd thing in a scene, then emphasises it.” He copied cartoons from Mad magazine, and struck up a correspondence with its then-editor, Harvey Kurtzman. It was while working on another Kurtzman magazine, Help!, that he met John Cleese for the first time. Gilliam was in charge of the photographic comic strips known as fumettis. In 1965 he cast Cleese in a fumetti entitled “Christopher’s Punctured Romance”, as a man who develops a passion for his daughter’s Barbie doll.

When Gilliam wound up in England a few years later – “If I’d stayed in America I was gonna be throwing bombs,” he says, “and I’m a better cartoonist than terrorist” – he contacted Cleese, and the rest, pretty much, is history. ...

There's a spate of Gilliam articles out just now because Mr. G. is promoting a new film. But Den of Geek pokes at the imagination with this:

... "Do you think you'll ever direct an animated film?" we asked. "You'd be the perfect fit for something like that."

"I know," Gilliam said. "There’s the guys who made Coraline [Laika], who keep wanting to get together with me. They’re good people."

Before we get too excited, though, Gilliam was keen to mention that nothing had been agreed on just yet; "I’m really quite confused as to where I’m going to go next or what I’m going to do," the director told us. He also added that he was keen to design a videogame, and was waiting for a developer to contact him and invite him to collaborate on something. ...

Terry Gilliam returning to his roots and directing an animated feature is a happening to be wished, but nobody should hold their breath. He always creates mind-tickling films, but live action seems to be his bag now.

In the early eighties, Disney had a chance to pick up Time Bandits for a minimal amount. Sadly, the company passed, even though most of the younger animation staff was lobbying to see the studio distribute the movie. (How wrong can you go marketing a film with John Cleese and Sean Connery in it?)

So some other company released Time Bandits, and ended up making several buckets of money. (A domestic take of $42,000,000+ on a $5,000,000 budget Not shabby.)



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The Inevitable Shift

Even Japanese cartoons go CG:

... While the local [Japanese animation] biz has maintained its traditional methods, a digital wave is steadily encroaching on the industry, even among the work of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, the leader of the 2D camp.

One recent sign of this shift was the announcement that Goro Miyazaki, Hayao’s son, director of Studio Ghibli hits “Tales From Earthsea” (2006) and “From Up on Poppy Hill” (2011), will helm a computer-generated animation TV series based on Astrid Lindgren’s kiddy lit classic “Ronia the Robber’s Daughter” ... “(Goro Miyazaki) wants to try something different from what he’s done at Studio Ghibli,” says Tokyo-based Polygon Pictures president and CEO Shuzo John Shiota. ...

Polygon learned the hard way that except for films from companies like Pixar, Japanese auds prefer local productions to have a traditional anime look; its 2009 CG-animated feature “Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror,” flopped spectacularly. ...

But change may be inevitable. As the retirement of the 72-year-old Hayao Miyazaki in September illustrated, the leaders of the hand-drawn style are becoming fewer. “In Japan not many young people are coming in (to the 2D animation scene) anymore,” Shiota says. “The master animators are not easy to replace.” ...

The move from hand-drawn animation has come slowly in Japan, but the prospect of creating animated features that can be exported has to weigh on Japanese studios. Sure, they can continue to make traditional features for the home market, but it isn't as if CG features haven't made inroads.

... In the foreign film category, “Monsters University” claimed the top spot with 8.96 billion yen, followed by “Les Miserables” with 5.89 billion yen, “Ted” with 4.23 billion yen, “Wreck-It Ralph” with 3 billion yen ...

So a Pixar feature was the biggest non-Japanese entry in the market last year. Maybe the future already looms up, and it's got CGI stamped on it. Sad as it might be, hand-drawn animation's fate in Japan will probably be similar to what's happened to it in the Unites States. A well-remembered movie genre that is held in high esteem, but seldom made.
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Sony

Deadline reports:

... There is anxiety in Culver City today as word gets around on the Sony lot that significant layoffs are coming as soon as Monday. “You wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as a high state of panic over here,” said one. I will disclose the layoff specifics when I learn them, but it’s not a surprise that this is happening; it was considered an eventuality when Sony hired Bain & Company to figure out a way to cut $100 million in operating costs across movies, TV and the music operations. Staffers from that consulting company have made their presence felt on the lot. This attempt to run more efficiently came out of the discussions that Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton had with Kazuo Hirai after minority shareholder Daniel Loeb ragged on the studio after a string of flop films. ...

Sony Pictures Animation, so far as I know, won't be impacted by this because there are multiple features in development and the staff is not large to begin with.

But of course, Sony Pictures Imageworks has already taken it in the shorts, losing work to Sony Imageworks Vancouver, where free money is readily available and SPI has shifted much of its labor force, the better to slurp up corporate subsidies.

If I find out different, I'll pass it along.

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Runaway

The issue for California:

... “Producers we’ve talked to tell us the first thing they look at are the financial incentives a state is offering,”

Animation faced the runaway problem decades ago. Now live-action faces it in spades.

At this point in time, animation in Los Angeles has hit a plateau, but let's not kid ourselves. Even as animation jobs have expanded in Southern California, high-end live-action has gone, visual effects work has imploded (and dried up some of the CG talent pool). And even television animation, despite current robustness, is being impacted. Many Canadian studios are packed to the gills, and California work, from design to boards to direction, is getting outsourced to Canada.

Now. There are different solutions out there. One is to get countervailing tariffs in place. It's a worthy goal but a long-term project. Another is to expand California's entertainment tax rebates. Giving free money to large corporations is not an ideal solution, but as national and international tax policies now stand, Hollywood is getting killed by the competition.

So the question becomes: until a better solution presents itself, is it acceptable to use one that will achieve positive results even though it's less than ideal? For me the answer is a qualified yes, because "better" is an improvement over "zilch" and watching California's entertainment industry continue to get its backside kicked. Therefore I support the tax legislation titled AB 1839.

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TAG Interviews

Maybe you've asked yourself: "Hey, didn't TAG Blog used to do audio interviews with animation artists? Video interviews?

Yeah, we did. But work in other areas has gobbled up lots of time these past several months. But this will be changing. ...

But that should be changing a bit.

Now that we're down to the last craft meeting for March, (this one for animation directors, checkers, and other interested parties on Tuesday, March 18th, some hours will be freed up to launch newer interviews in coming weeks.

Early heads up: Look for them here. Click here to read entire post

Down to Two Items

The WGA-AMPTP talks are close to a conclusion. But close is the key word.

... After less than a week back at the negotiating table, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers have almost reached an agreement on a new 3-year contract. ... “Last week we concluded our second round of contract talks with the AMPTP,” said Negotiating Committee Co-Chairs Chip Johannessen and Billy Ray and WGA West President Chris Keyser in a message (see below) to members today. “Every aspect of our contract has been negotiated and agreed upon with two exceptions – options and exclusivity – which remain points of contention between us.” ...

At the link, you can read the Guild's statement about why they're holding out on options and exclusivity.

Writers on short-order shows now find themselves working for half a year or less, then stuck on unpaid hiatus for open-ended periods while waiting to see if their show – and their contract – will be renewed. During this period they are virtually unemployable because studios demand “exclusivity” and “first position” ...

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New Series from DreamWorks Animation/Netflix

This just in:

Netflix (NFLX) announces three new series aimed at children from DreamWorks Animation (DWA -1.6%) will be released late in the year.

The shows to be debuted will be King Julien, Puss in Boots, and Veggie Tales in the House.

Netflix and DreamWorks Animation signed a first-run agreement last summer. ...

I've seen some of these series in development at DWA TV's Glendale facility, but kept my beak closed about them. Veggie Tales, of course, was the property of a mid-west animation company which is no longer extant. (A decade ago, it went bankrupt following a lawsuit.)

The original Veggie Tales were bible-centered stories. No word yet on what this new series of VTs are centered on. Click here to read entire post

Craft Meeting #4 -- CG Artists, Tech Directors

The latest TAG craft meeting happened Tuesday night, with a lower turnout than has been usual. The topics discussed:

* The disappearance of VFX jobs; one CG artist noted that he used to move back and forth between union animation work and non-union visual effects work. He said the non-union work has decreased drastically.

* Speculation about Canadian how long the expansion of CG work in Canada and London would last. The business rep thought as long as the big tax subsidies are in place, CG work would continue to thrive north of the border, and that there are two ways the subsidies could end: 1) If Canadian voters tire of the tax rebates, deciding that the cost-benefit ratios are not there and so vote to end them. 2) If counter-failing U.S. tariffs are put in place and end the usefulness of the subsidies.

It was pointed out that countervailing tariffs against foreign subsidies would not prevent otter states in the U.S.A. from instituting tax subsidies of their own. ...

Comments from survey forms:

Overtime is needed and authorized. I rarely to never work unpaid overtime. If schedules are inadequate, I'm usually vocal about it.

The biggest issue with the Guild contract is is skewed heavily toward traditional issues; there's apathy among too many tiers per category.

One 3D category is insufficient to describe or reflect various titles. ... A layout or texture painter shouldn't be rate compared to a character animator with current multiple tiers. It is possible for "leads" in departments to not be the highest union ranking. Essentially you can have a higher-paid journey person being lead by a lower tier.

The union needs to promote itself to its 3-D members. It's crazy there are [so few] people at this meeting.

I work unpaid overtime twice a week. There aren't enough studios under TAG jurisdiction.

Find a summary of all other craft meetings here.

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Origins

All animated, this time around.

... Sony Pictures Animation is changing course and planning a new take on its Smurfs franchise, tapping Shrek 2 and Gnomeo & Juliet director Kelly Asbury to helm an all-animated film with new designs and environments that will focus on the origins of the annoying blue creatures. The new take will be closer to creator Peyo’s original artwork, and it has been targeted for the August 2015 release. ...

I talked (briefly) to Mr. Asbury about Smurfs and other things the last time I was through SPA/SPI in Culver City.

Kelly originally came to Sony Pictures Animation to work on a different feature (which is, so far as I know, still on one of the burners of the stove, just not the front one). Obviously The Smurfs has a higher priority, and so Mr. Asbury got reassigned.

But it's good to know that pure animation trumps hybrids in the current environment. Sony is reading the newer box office returns.

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Trouble with the Free Money?

I'm shocked, SHOCKED.

Several members of the Louisiana Legislature said they were concerned about fraud taking place in Louisiana's film tax credit program. State Inspector General Steven Street told state House members Tuesday that his office has been dealing with film tax credit problems regularly over the past year.

"I can just tell you a lot of our business of late has involved fraud in the film tax program," Street told people on the state House Appropriations Committee.

A NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune report released Wednesday detailed one such potential case of fraud. Two men are accused of lying about a New Orleans-based project in order to get $1.3 million in film tax credits from the state.

The Inspector General suggested the Legislature put stronger audit oversight in place for film production tax breaks. House Speaker Pro Tempore Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, asked Street to work with Leger and other lawmakers to craft legislation that might curtail the fraud.

"I want us to identify specific areas where we can make improvements," he said.

The film tax credits are controversial within the Legislature. Elected officials from South Louisiana are more supportive of the program, since many of the movie and television productions locate there. But many legislators from other parts of the state would rather use the state's public money in other ways. ...

It's disheartening that sharpsters would try to dupe state administrators into giving them cash they didn't deserve. Don't these people know the moolah is earmarked for Time-Warner, Disney, Viacom, Fox and other fine entertainment conglomerates that really, really need the donations?

Some people just don't get it. Click here to read entire post

Lots of This Going Around

Not animation, but the work dynamics have distinct similarities.

... "No one's really worried about the fact that you're so exhausted from working seven days a week, you're dependent on some drug to stay awake, or dependent on some drug to go asleep, or for pain," [Chris Young] says, relaxing after shift on an L-shaped leather couch at the home he rents in Columbia. His 37-year-old body is powerful, built like a football player's, but no longer impervious. "That's the most common thing people are addicted to. And everybody I work with has some type of pain, whether it's hands, fingers, back, feet, something."

Young doesn’t actually work for Nissan — he works for Yates Services, an in-house contractor that's hired thousands of people over the past few years to ramp up production as people started buying vehicles again. It’s a big difference.

Yates is like a company within a company, with separate bulletin boards and rules and procedures. The bona fide Nissan employees are easily recognizable through their logoed shirts, which Yates workers don't receive. And the disparity isn't just symbolic. Yates pays between $10 and $18 an hour, which is about half what Nissan employees make. Plus, the gap in benefits is wide. Back at home, Young pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper from the company that lays out the differences and pokes at the two columns with his finger. ...

What struck me as I read this is, manufacturing isn't all the different from animation or visual effects. People get wrist and other repetitive stress injuries. People have wages squeezed.

And, just as in animation/vfx, the employer is working tirelessly to get the jobs done "better, faster, cheaper." Click here to read entire post

Doomed

Jeebus. I had no idea of the e-vil.

Kevin Swanson can see through your cheery, animated facade, Disney.

The pastor said last week on his radio show that he isn't fooled by the smash hit "Frozen," suggesting that the film just might be part of a devious effort by Satan himself to turn little boys and girls gay.

Before he delved into the theory, Swanson made it clear that he's no "tinfoil hat conspiratorialist."

"If I was the Devil, what would I do to really foul up an entire social system and do something really, really, really evil to 5- and 6- and 7-year-olds in Christian families around America?" Swanson said before rattling off the evils of "Frozen." ...

“You know I think this cute little movie is going to indoctrinate my 5-year-old to be a lesbian or treat homosexuality or bestiality in a light sort of way.” I wonder if the average parent going to see Frozen is thinking that way. I wonder if they are just walking in and saying, “Yeah, let’s get my five-year-old and seven-year-old indoctrinated early.” ...

You know, I saw the picture, and I just had no idea. I'm only thankful my kids are grown and beyond the impressionable age.

But to be on the safe side, I'll make sure my adult children don't see the DVD or Blu-Ray. You can never be too careful. Click here to read entire post

Free Money!

More Europeans stampede to where the bucks are.

French visual effects and animation giant BUF has finally unveiled plans to expand into Canada.

BUF, which has been eyeing Canada as a new international base for some time, is to launch a Montreal subsidiary, BUF Canada.

The expansion will create 125 jobs over the next three years creating CGI images for live action and animated movies.
BUF setting up in Montreal follows similar moves by Technicolor, Gravity VFX creator Framestore, Cinesite and Moving Picture Company, thanks to the offer of generous federal and Quebec tax credits and subsidies for digital work completed locally.

Aren't you glad we live on a continent where the undeserving poor are having their food stamps reduced, even as job creators are showered with moolah?

All, dear friends, is as it should be. FREE ENTERPRISE FOREVAH! RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM, FUCK YEAH! Click here to read entire post

Wringing of Hands

The entertainment press tells us:

... The $32.M weekend domestic box office for Mr. Peabody & Sherman was lower than the $43.7M average for DreamWorks Animation‘s recent original films, and less than most analysts anticipated. But it was strong enough to leave the basic debate over DreamWorks Animation’s stock intact with shares up less than 1% to $29.74 in morning trading. ...

But hey. They're UP. ...

Analyst Doug Creutz: “The company has been piling up an increasingly alarming film body count over the past few years.” ...

But then there's analyst Ben Mogil: “The movie did have a strong Friday to Saturday increase, even for a kids film, indicating strong word of mouth and reviews.” ...

My take: No high end animated features get automatic passes to Big Box Office anymore (if they ever did.) But I've never bought the theory that animated features "are cannibalizing each other" simply because there's a lot of them out there.

If audiences want to turn out to see your movie, they turn out. Occasionally there are surprises, but anybody with an internet connection and/or access to a sliver of the prime, movie-going public (i.e., do you have teenagers in your house?) can get a pretty good idea about what movies are going to hit big, and which ones will be in the middle of the pack (or lower).

And often, there is just a "buzz." Back in the dark ages, Star Wars had an excited hum about it. Twenty years back, I could walk through Disney Feature Animation and hear artists talking excitedly about a CG animated feature that hadn't been released yet titled Toy Story. I didn't know a thing about that Disney-Pixar release, but it quickly became apparent that TS was going to be semi-momentous in the annals of feature animation.

More recently, How to Train Your Dragon had a "This is special!" halo around it. The excited murmurs were there from the day of release, and the grosses bore that out. I'm willing to bet the lunch money that Dragons II (about which there is also good buzz), will open big.

Because it's not the number of animated features in the marketplace that matter, but the "X-factor" that each one possesses.

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On the Turner Animation Changeover

As the L.A. Times reported Friday:

Stu Snyder, president and chief operating officer of Time Warner's Turner Animation unit, is exiting.

Snyder, who has overseen Turner's animation efforts, including the Cartoon Network, for six years, told his staff that he is resigning at the end of the month.

"It is with mixed emotions that I share with you the news that I will be leaving the company at the end of the month," Snyder said in an email. "I have had the privilege of working and partnering with some of the most creative, talented and fun people in the business, who I will miss working with every day." ...

The Brew has weighed in on Mr. Snyder's exit, also Toon Zone. Talking to CN staffers, they told me they were surprised that the Snyder e-mails were out there so fast, and confirmed they were real.

Snyder's tenure was choppy, but I don't link his leaving to the live-action misfires he pushed a few years ago. When I attributed his exit to the live-action slate, a CN administrator told me: "That was years ago. I don't think that had much to do with it." On the other hand, when I said (smei-facetiously) that Snyder was "pushed overboard", there were no denials.

The upshot is: corporate employees, and corporate executives in particular, serve at the pleasure of the King. And when those at the top of pyramid move on, their replacements almost always want their own people in the gilded chairs below them. I think this was the dynamic with Mr. Snyder. As the L.A. Times says, there was a new President and CEO at Turner, and the incoming prex was not on of Stu Snyder's biggest fans.

Based on what we know, that's why Snyder is mounting up and riding out.

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Cartoon Financing

Underwriting animated features:

European animation feature film projects are always looking for money, so Lyon's Cartoon Movie co-production forum, now in its 16th year, is a vital way to find backing.

More than 700 participants from 40 countries met in the French city this year aiming to create partnerships and raise funds for European animation productions.

“We looked at the 14 years before Cartoon Movie, and the 14 years since the forum’s creation, and we discovered that feature-length animated film production increased five-fold, a huge jump, and audiences for these films increased by a factor of 10,” said Cartoon Movie’s Director Marc Vandeweyer.

Since 1999, over 215 films pitched at Cartoon Movie, with a total budget of 1.5 billion euros, have secured financing and have been released in the cinema. ...

Everybody knows about the high-profile animated features: The Disney and Pixar output, the DreamWorks Animation features, the movies being made by Blue Sky Studios.

It's the smaller budgets, smaller grossing films that many people don't hear about. But it's good they're financed and produced. Getting green-lit by one of our fine, entertainment conglomerates is not the end-all, be-all. Click here to read entire post

All Index Funds, All The Time

Since it's Sunday afternoon, a little investing advice.

Larry Swedroe is one of my gurus. Last month he gave a talk on why almost everyone should put their money in diversified index funds. ...

Larry makes excellent points in the linked video. Here's a summation of one of them:

Passive investors [people who put their money in index funds] do accept that the market price is the best estimate of the right price.

Who is setting market prices? They’re set by active investors who are looking forward, paying attention to company prospects and market conditions. And for every active manager that beats the market, there must be another that underperforms.

Collectively, active managers must always underperform passive investors in all asset classes and in bull or bear markets because of expenses. It’s just simple math.

Think of it this way: To pick the "right" actively managed fund, you've got to research and choose the active fund manager who is likely to outperform his peers, all of them investing in the same market that he is. And the manager has to outperform the market enough to offset costs that will likely run 1% or more.

Good luck with that.

But don't believe me. Plenty of studies have shown that active funds almost always lose to their indexed cousins:

A new white paper by Portfolio Solutions and Betterment, "The Case For Index Fund Portfolios,"pretty much solidifies all we've ever known or guessed about low-cost, passively managed index funds –– they can rarely be beaten.

Looking at advanced portfolios holding 10 asset classes between 1997 and 2012, researchers found index fund portfolios outperformed comparable actively managed portfolios a staggering 82% to 90% of the time. And the longer investors held those investments, the better shot they had at outperforming active funds over time.

Still not convinced? Even lowering the cost of actively managed fund portfolios couldn't offer a boost significant enough to outperform index funds, the researchers found. ...

Finally, here's Paul Merriman's reasons for traveling the index road:

WHY INDEX?

1) You get wide diversification in a single package.

2) Index funds have low operating expenses. An index fund has no need to pay a staff of analysts.

3) Index funds have low internal trading expenses, because they simply don’t trade very often.

4) Because of their lower turnover, index funds reduce your tax exposure.

5) Index funds give you control of your exposure to the specific asset classes you want.

6) When you buy an index fund, you know what you’re getting - the performance of an index.

7) You will most likely get above-average returns.

8) You won’t have to worry about monitoring the performance of an index fund manager.

9) Index funds are easy to rebalance on schedule without worrying whether you will miss out on a manager’s “hot streak.”

10) Index funds are good for one-decision investors.

11) Index funds don’t keep your money idle in cash.

12) It’s easy to choose index funds. Pick your asset class, then find the most efficient index fund that follows it.

13) Index funds are favored by Nobel Prize winning economists, Warren Buffett, John Bogle, Charles Schwab, almost all academics.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

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International Box Office

The same movies have booming box office results beyond our shores.

... On Friday, Rise Of An Empire scored a No. 1 opening in the UK with an estimated $1.6M from 955 screens for 44% of the top five market share. ... Fox’s Mr Peabody & Sherman will expand in 36 new markets including Russia, Spain, Poland and Sweden. It’s also bowing in the U.S. after starting its international run five weeks ago. It currently has a $39.8M cume. ...

The Rentrak totals:

WEEKEND INTERNATIONAL BOX OFFICE -- (WORLD TOTALS)

Mr. Peabody and Sherman -- $21,000,000 -- ($98,600,000)

The Lego Movie -- $9,900,000 -- ($360,571,612)

Frozen -- $3,600,000 -- ($1,009,451,000)

Rise of an Empire kept storming through its international weekend. And Number Two?

“Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” which was the runner-up to “300: Rise of an Empire” in North America, was also No. 2 overall overseas. The Fox-distributed DreamWorks Animation family film took in $21 million from 53 foreign markets. It debuted abroad ahead of its U.S. Opening and now has international total of $66 million and is at $98.6 million worldwide. ...

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New Media

Former Hanna-Barbera topkick Fred Seibert speaks.

... [Fred] Seibert, whose Frederator Studios operates the Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel, was just tapped by HLN — formerly Headline News — to create an animated news show, “I Can Haz News Toons.” This week he also signed a deal with British animator Simon Tofield, creator of Simon’s Cat — the second-most popular cartoon channel on YouTube — to handle advertising and distribution. ...

You’ve said this is a golden age of animation on the Internet. Explain.

Take Simon’s Cat as a really great example. As a producer, when a creative person comes in to me with a piece of animation in it with no dialogue whatsoever — it’s virtually a silent film from 1925 — I almost always say “no” without thinking. Simon didn’t make Simon’s Cat to make producers happy, though. What the Internet does is, it introduces all sorts of creative output that has no obviously-commercial value in the traditional marketplace. As soon as you bring in new creative people in droves, anywhere, the world changes. ...

Fred's certainly right about a changing world. In 2008, all the entertainment guilds were fighting for something called "new media", which was -- mainly -- live-action and animation delivered over the internet. Six years later, the world has been altered in a major way, because Netflix and Amazon are now buying and creating fresh content, and delivering it over the internet. No broadcast or cable networks are involved, just a lot of websites and computers.

These new players and delivery systems offer fresh opportunities for content creators, but the road ahead will be rocky. Wages and profit participation will be all over the map, and a lot of the work will need to be organized. Including some of Fred's.

But what I like about Mr. Seibert is, he doesn't b.s. He gives you his view of the universe straight, without top-spin or shading. I particularly liked how Fred ended this interview:

... When I was young I had a reputation — not a positive one — about being certain I was right all the time and being incredibly arrogant about it. Now I believe I’m right at any given moment, but history tells me that on a really good day, no matter what I’m saying is wrong eight out of 10 times. A bunch of things I said today will probably be proven wrong in the not-too-distant future.

Very few execs that I know about would 'fess up to being wrong 80% of the time. Mostly they tell you how totally right they are, 24/7.

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Your Animated Weekend

Three out of the top seven eight movies in the U.S. and Canada are cartoons.

1). 300: Rise Of An Empire (WB), 3,470 theaters / $17.5M Fri. / $16.2M Sat. / $11.2M Sun. / 3-day cume: $45M / Per screen: $13,006 / Wk 1

2). Mr. Peabody and Sherman (FOX) 3,934 theaters / $8M Fri. / $14.4M Sat. (+80%) / $10M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $32.5M / Per screen: $8,268 / Wk 1

3). Non-Stop (UNI), 3,113 theaters (+23) / $4.7M Fri. / $7.1M (-42%) / $4.2M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $15.3M (-47%) / Per screen: $4,940 / Total cume: $52.1M / Wk 2

4). The Lego Movie (WB), 3,290 theaters (-480) / $2.5M Fri. / $5.1M Sat.(+104) / $3.3M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $11M (-47%) / Per screen: $3,345 / Total cume: 224.9M / Wk 5

5). Son Of God (FOX), 3,271 theaters (+11) / $2.68M Fri. / $4.1M Sat. (+56%) / $3.1M Sun (-25%) / 3-day cume: $10M (-61%) / Per screen: $3,058 / Total cume: $41.49M / Wk 2

6). Monuments Men (SONY), 2,001 theaters (-1,001) / $870K Fri. / $1.4M Sat. (+69%) / $760K Sun. (-45%) / 3-day cume: $3.1M (-37%) / Per screen: $1,549/ Total cume: $70.6M / Wk 5

7). 3 Days To Kill (REL), 2,348 theaters (-543) / $870K Fri. / $1.3M Sat. (+58%) / $822K Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $3M (-39%) / Per screen: $1,304 / Total cume: $25.5M / Wk 3

8). Frozen (DIS), 1,660 theaters (-86) / $630K Fri. / $1.3M Sat. (+117%) / $889K Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $3M (-17%) / Per screen: $1,739 / Total cume: $393.1M / Wk 16

9). 12 Years A Slave (FSL) 1,065 theaters (+654) / 585K Fri. / $975K Sat. (+67%) / 577K Sun. (-37%) / 3-day cume: $2.1M (+125%) / Per screen: $2,042 / Total cume: $53.1M / Wk 21

10/11). RoboCop (SONY) 1,714 theaters (-1,171) / $515K Fri. / $930K Sat. (+80%) / $555K Sun. (-37%) / 3-day cume: $2M (-55%) / Per screen: $1,180 / Total cume: $54.7M / Wk 4

The Reporter informs us: "Mr. Peabody and Sherman is on course for an $8 million Friday and $32 million-plus weekend."

The 300 epics are potent, yes? The sword and sandal movie with muscular men that's called Pompeii dies at the box office (and it's even got exploding volcanoes!) ... but a couple of weeks later, 300: Rise of an Empire charges to the top of the box office heap.

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