Last weekend's box-office race went to News Corp. (NWS). The media conglomerate released the sequel to Wall Street. The project, entitled Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, stars Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf. When you think of the iconic equity the original possesses, and combine it with the current financial zeitgeist (maybe I should have written current negative financial zeitgeist, considering the state we're in), you might have expected a huge hit.

I did. And I was wrong. Sure, according to Box Office Mojo, the second Wall Street captured the top spot. But take a look at the actual domestic gross for the three-day debut: $19 million. Does that sound like a blockbuster? Even in the more sedate September period, I had higher hopes for a more exciting debut.

I have to admit, I didn't notice until late this week that World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Legendary film, which opened yesterday, was some sort of drama. Maybe I was aware of it, somewhere in the back of my mind, but honestly, I've suddenly been hit by the notion that WWE's celluloid division made one heck of a strange business decision in green lighting the project.

Let me say upfront that I have not seen the movie. But I've read several reviews, such as the one in the Los Angeles Times. They don't make me want to see the flick.

Media companies like Disney (DIS), News Corp. (NWS), and Time Warner (TWX) are dependent on a healthy celluloid industry. As times have changed, the industry has become more challenging. Home video, for example, is mired in a complex conundrum: how does one grow physical media revenue in the digital age? How does video-on-demand fit into the picture? What about online downloads? When you think about it, theatrical exhibition is becoming more important than ever before as post-multiplex channels of distribution undergo radical changes to keep up with the times.

Unfortunately, the following article from the Associated Press indicates that there's a lot of marketing work to be done in Hollywood. You see, while summer box-office sales are up, the quantity of admission transactions has declined.

Lionsgate (LGF) needed The Expendables to be a hit, as I noted last week. And management scored on that count. According to early estimates for domestic theatrical performance at Box Office Mojo, the movie nabbed first place with $35 million over the three-day weekend.

Coming in a strong second was Sony's (SNE) Eat Pray Love, which had a ton of buzz surrounding it going into its debut, capturing $23 million. Not bad.

Lionsgate Entertainment (LGF) is hoping it can dominate the upcoming weekend box-office race. And if it can't dominate, then it at least wants to come as close to dominating as possible.

The bottom line: it can't put in a mediocre performance -- and it most definitely cannot fail. It will release a movie this Friday called The Expendables. As the Los Angeles Times makes clear, it's a pretty important event for the studio.

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.