I don't think anyone can be shocked by the latest results from the movie world. The fact that Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 captured the top spot was a predestined event. And the fact that it made the most money of any Potter film in its debut, as many news reports have mentioned, is also, frankly, not a surprise.

According to Box Office Mojo, Hallows Part 1 grossed $125 million at domestic theaters. This data set shows how that figure compares to the opening performance of the other entries in the series. It's impressive, certainly, but again, considering that the Potter projects have almost reached a conclusion (presumably, anyway), it seems fitting that there's a lot of excitement surrounding the release.

DreamWorks Animation's (DWA) Megamind movie didn't have such a great debut last weekend, in my opinion. This weekend, however, I have to give it at least some credit: It once again captured the top spot at domestic theaters. Box Office Mojo says that the project made $29 million from Friday through Sunday, bringing the total gross so far to nearly $89 million.

Don't expect me to jump up and down for joy, though -- and I highly doubt shareholders of the studio are happy that the film didn't at least crack the $100 million mark by this point.

I'm sure execs at DreamWorks Animation (DWA) know it's tough to be a publicly-traded content company that is more directly tied to the film business than a huge conglomerate is; if they didn't, they know it today. No matter how great management thinks the next project is, moviegoers may simply not send it into the stratosphere in terms of the first-weekend gross.

Such is the case with DreamWorks Animation's latest project, Megamind. At first glance, it seems like an awesome hit. According to estimates over at Box Office Mojo, the cartoon came in first place at domestic theaters over the three-day period, beating out other new films from Time Warner (TWX) and Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF).

DreamWorks Animation (DWA) reported third-quarter earnings earlier in the week. It's one of those fun stocks that investors like to check out (I like checking it out, at least). I'm sure a lot of market participants would love to find an excuse to add the stock to a trading portfolio, mostly because the idea that it will be purchased by some bigger entity is perhaps too big to ignore.

At the time of this writing, shares were exchanging hands at a quote of $35.23, which meant that they were down less than 1%. The 52-week low is $26.61 while the 52-week high is $44.77. As the one-year chart shows, the technical story is not as attractive as the computer-generated images produced by the company.

DreamWorks Animation (DWA), a producer of computer-animated movies that competes with Disney (DIS), News Corp. (NWS), and others, closed about a nickel away from the 52-week high on Monday. At $39.20, is the stock getting ahead of itself?

Possibly, but there's much to consider with this situation. Although I don't relish looking at stocks when they've already made a move, you have to give some credit to DreamWorks Animation and its film-franchise business model. Indeed, the company is creating valuable intellectual properties capable of spinning off future sequels for purposes of capturing cash flow. Not only that, but television is set to become a larger part of the business plan.