As for me, I won't be finding out how awesome it is. I don't plan on seeing it. But I do plan on watching the financial results. I think what Bay intellectually missed out on is the fact that his movie was destined to be a hit. I even spoke to someone who saw the film about Bay's angry electronic missive over the film's marketing, and he couldn't understand why it mattered. He was seeing the movie, regardless of how many commercials were out there. And I think the target audience, the younger opening-weekend crowd, were fully aware that Fallen was on its way this week.

Well, one studio is very happy about this opening: Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). The media company is doing excellent business with its surprise hit The Hangover. Next up is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You've got to figure that the new Potter film is going to surpass this new record when it opens on Wednesday, July 15. Remember when the project was supposed to open back in the fall of last year? I would have to assume there is so much anticipation for it because of the move. And now that Fallen is performing as it is, I would have to further assume that Half-Blood Prince will build on the current momentum for cinematic fantasy in the marketplace.

Is there a trade here? Not really. I wouldn't buy either stock based solely on the merits of these two silver-screen juggernauts. However, they are pieces of the puzzle for potential longer-term investors to consider. Releasing high-profile tentpole summer blockbusters is an expensive business. It takes hundreds of millions of dollars to make and release a sizzling franchise sequel. And there's no guarantee of success. What you have to do is take a look at the media company in question to see if has a great network of platforms with which to take advantage of a box-office hit when one becomes available. I'd give Time Warner the edge here because of the Turner Networks and HBO. But Viacom certainly knows how to monetize its content, too. I continue to find the recent price action in Time Warner's shares interesting, though, and have been keeping an eye on them.

More importantly, I hope media entities such as Viacom and Time Warner learn that the costs of releasing movies must come down. Fallen had a fine first day of release. Half-Blood Prince should do even better. If this is the latter's destiny, should Time Warner pull back on its ad spend and take its chances? Bay might not get behind the idea, but shareholders would probably be pleased by such an experiment...

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change without notice.