There wasn't much suspense over the Fourth of July weekend, was there? At least not with the movies that were competing in the marketplace. Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse took in about $69 million over the three-day weekend (Friday through Sunday) at domestic theaters, according to early estimates over at Box Office Mojo. That figure easily put the flick ahead of all its colleagues. It actually opened last Wednesday, so its total gross is approximately $160 million.

It was the weekend that everyone was waiting for. The debut of James Cameron's Avatar was an event approaching mythic dimension: Don't tell me you didn't know it was coming, because I wouldn't believe you for a nanosecond. The hype was out there, and it became a self-replicating, viral zeitgeist able to cross multiple mediums with ease. Its marketing message dominated the collective cinematic discussion, and even though it didn't possess the brand access of Time Warner's (TWX) The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Which is why I found the domestic opening of the project quite puzzling. I thought Avatar, distributed by News Corp. (NWS), was worth a heck of a lot more than $77 million, which is what the film grossed, according to Box Office Mojo.

Shareholders of Time Warner (TWX) should be pretty happy this week. The media company's new film, The Blind Side, beat the latest Twilight picture. No, it won't make the stock go up, but I'm sure studio execs were excited by the fact that Blind Side held up well during its second weekend out in the marketplace.

According to early estimates over at Box Office Mojo, Blind Side grossed $20 million at domestic theaters while The Twilight Saga: New Moon, distributed by Summit Entertainment, made roughly $15 million. Obviously Time Warner benefited from the satiation of demand on New Moon, which has so far taken in over $250 million.

It was a big weekend for Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF). The company had a Tyler Perry picture in the multiplex marketplace. As shareholders know, the talented writer/producer/director has a lot of brand equity with moviegoers. About a year ago, Lionsgate was doing relatively well with Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys. That project opened in second place.

This year, Perry has done even better. Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself debuted in the top spot at domestic theaters as of early estimates at Boxofficemojo. Its three-day gross was roughly $24 million. It had some stiff competition. Coming in second was the animated sci-fi piece 9 from Focus Features, which is owned by General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal. Inglourious Basterds, distributed by The Weinsten Company, was third (the Quentin Tarantino flick has now gone beyond $100 million in total gross). News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) All About Steve came in at number four. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Final Destination appears to be losing steam, as it dropped to the fifth slot on the chart.

Speaking of horror, Sorority Row from Summit Entertainment came in sixth. I thought this movie was going to rank much higher, but I was wrong. The marketing campaign looked good to me, but it apparently didn't fully resonate with the intended audience (perhaps a large amount of that audience decided to opt for Destination instead).

Last week at this time, I was reporting on the success of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne Johnson, an actor who used to be a full-time grappler known as The Rock for World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE). The film opened in the number-one position, taking in $24.4 million.

Well, I'm sorry to say now that the project might not have the best legs in the business. It dropped to fourth place this time around after grossing an amount that, as of early estimates, is over 46% less than what it grossed in its debut weekend.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) had a great weekend at the domestic box office. According to Boxofficemojo, two of the company's film products, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, came in first and second, respectively, on the movie charts. This is the second weekend in a row at the top for Blart, and early estimates available at the time of this writing credit the comedy with $21.5 million for the three-day period. Underworld so far seems to have about $20.5 million in the bank, but whereas these are estimates, the numbers and rankings could change.

You've got to praise Sony for the marketing campaigns behind both features. The fact that Underworld virtually made as much as the more accessible comedy is pretty impressive to me. Those Underworld commercials were on all the right channels, and I bet they hit the demo that's still riding high from the success of Summit Entertainment's Twilight perfectly (in case you're not familiar, both pictures feature vampires). Twilight has so far grossed well over $180 million.

Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Gran Torino came in third, and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) modest performer, Hotel for Dogs, was fourth. That latter picture has barked up (it's a tradition in the trade to use goofy puns when covering box-office results, sorry) a total of approximately $37 million at this point. Not too great, to be honest. But News Corp.s (NYSE: NWS) Slumdog Millionaire is moving up in the ranks thanks to the Oscar nominations surrounding it and a wider release pattern. It increased in rank to fifth place and has achieved a total tally of $56 million. Look for this one to hit $100 million.

I had high hopes for News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) remake of one of my favorite sci-fi films from the 50s, The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'm not sure what everyone else was thinking, but I figured the film would take in at least $50 million at the opening weekend.

Unfortunately, according to early estimates at Boxofficemojo, Earth could only scare up around $31 million in its first three days at domestic theaters. In fact, compared to last year's I Am Legend from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), which came out at about the same time, and was another remake of a famous cult sci-fi flick as well, it performed poorly as Legend, starring Will Smith, grossed $77 million in its debut weekend.

Keanu Reeves starred as the alien Klaatu in Earth. One has to wonder how the box-office dynamic would have changed if Will Smith was in the role. Of course, maybe the movie would have been more expensive to make (although I'm sure Reeves doesn't come cheap, either). I heard great word on the remake from a friend of mine who saw it over the weekend on an IMAX (NASDAQ: IMAX) screen and really enjoyed it. He was a bit surprised when I suggested that the film only pulled in around $30 million.

According to Boxofficemojo, holiday cheer is currently ruling the silver screen. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Four Christmases was number one at domestic theaters this past weekend with an estimated haul of $18 million. This is the movie's second weekend out, and it's the second time that it captured the top slot. What gives? Seriously. Is the movie that good? I expressed similar sentiment last week about the flick. I guess congratulations are in order for Time Warner and its marketing machine.

And I continue to be surprised by Summit Entertainment's Twilight. The teen phenomenon doesn't seem as phenomenal to me anymore. It came in second over the weekend, and its cumulative gross now stands at slightly under $140 million. Is it me, or were you thinking that Twilight would have snared over $200 million by now?

And just to prove that all my expectations are being turned upside down, let me say that I thought Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Bolt would have surely made it past the century mark by its third weekend at the multiplex. Not even close. Right now, Bolt has close to $80 million in its dog bowl (hey, I had to come up with one goofy pun, right?). By comparison, DreamWorks Animation's (NYSE: DWA) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which is distributed by Viacom (NYSE: VIA), has grossed about $165 million after its fifth weekend at bat.

Did anyone see this coming? Honestly, I didn't think that Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, would be the number-one movie over the five-day Thanksgiving time period. According to preliminary data at Boxofficemojo, the holiday flick took in more than $46 million at domestic theaters for the Wednesday-through-Sunday frame. I've seen the ad campaign for Christmases, and I have no intention of taking in a screening of it. I guess it was the right product at the right time.

Summit Entertainment's Twilight came in second with $39 million. Considering how hyped up this one was, and how much of an ardent following it seems to possess, frankly, I'm surprised. Where were all the teens to push this to the top of the heap? They were certainly available to pack the theaters. And those who saw it during its debut weekend had ample opportunity to engage a repeat viewing or two. Still, at a reported budget of about $37 million, the project should be profitable for Summit Entertainment (I wish I knew how much was being spent on marketing, though). It's total take so far is approaching $120 million.

Bolt from Disney (NYSE: DIS) was third with $36 million. So far, its total gross stands at almost $67 million. I'm disappointed that the cartoon isn't closer to $100 million by now. I mean, this is the Disney brand we're talking about. Plus, Bolt could be considered a test of both John Lasseter's hit-making skill and of the value of the Pixar purchase (as I alluded to in a previous piece). I expected more from this one, and I'm sure Disney execs were counting on a higher gross by this point as well (no matter what they will say in public).

On Saturday of this past weekend, I was discussing the domestic box-office potential of Summit Entertainment's Twilight with a friend of mine (we didn't discuss the ranking potential since one didn't need to be a clairvoyant to see a first-place showing in the film's immediate future).

I initially proffered a $100 million take in terms of a prediction, but then backed down and decided that $80 million might be more like it. I wasn't sure if Twilight, even with all its hype, could possibly propel itself to a number that was recorded in three digits. Well, in an overall sense, I was completely wrong. Although the movie didn't make $100 million, I still obviously thought that it was stronger than it turned out to be.

According to published estimates from Boxofficemojo at the time of this writing (final numbers are due later), Twilight pulled in around $70 million. Don't get me wrong, that's a big take, and the movie did beat Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Quantum of Solace, which came in second. But, according to the daily estimates, the Friday-through-Sunday numbers show a decidedly negative trend.

It's interesting, too, because when I saw the $35 million Friday figure, I really thought that something higher than $70 million would be the end result. On Saturday, however, Twilight's take dropped over 40% when compared to its opening day, and on Sunday, the drop was almost 35% compared to Saturday.

I think we all knew which film would come out on top this past weekend. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) new James Bond adventure, Quantum of Solace, grossed an estimated $70 million at domestic theaters over the last three days according to Boxofficemojo. Excellent showing, Jimbo. As far as I'm concerned, though, I think you have to give the number-two film even more credit.

DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) and its distributor, Viacom (NYSE: VIA), need to be given major kudos for their work on Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. The first Madagascar took in about $193 million in total at the domestic box office back in 2005. It was released during the summertime. The sequel is definitely going to hit $200 million. This past weekend it took in roughly $36 million, and its total stands at approximately $118 million. With the Thanksgiving holiday still to come, I figure there will be plenty of business for DreamWorks Animation's cartoon.

The wild card here is Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Bolt project. That one will do well, judging by the commercials I've seen so far. How much thunder will it steal from the second Madagascar when it is released this Friday? A lot, I think. Still, I'll keep to my $200 million prediction. I believe there will be enough discretionary dollars left for both cartoons.