There were a lot of great games I played as a kid. Would I Risk my Life on making a movie out of any of them? I'm not saying video games, toys, and comic books should have a Monopoly on what types of movies are made. It's an open Operation. Still, they might be very Sorry if they're expecting a big Pay Day.

There are several positive ways you could attempt to spin Dark Shadows' opening weekend. You could make the case that it debuted larger than last year's sleeper smash Bridemades. You could point out how much better it opened that last fall's The Rum Diaries. You could also say that even with The Proclaimers "I Would Walk 500 Miles" song getting stuck in everyone's head for the entire summer, Dark Shadows has already topped Benny and Joon's final gross. What you can't defend is that this Warner Bros. vanity project was budgeted at $150 million. Wait, wha? $150 million! It costs money to make Johnny Depp have pale skin and look half-dead?! Talk about havering into you.

Four years ago an old TV show was retrofitted for the big-screen by a flashy director with a proven fan base. That film opened a week after Iron Man debuted with $98 million and received about as much attention as a Matlock marathon at high school camp. There was just no competing with a behemoth so close to its boheming. History may be looking to repeat itself just like Brooks & Dunn winning the best country duo award for 20 straight years because, well, there were no other country duos. Seriously, if I'd just kept cuffing my pants like they did in Miami Vice, I could've been winning Best Pants Cuffer for 20 years too since everyone else stopped before there was even Crystal Pepsi.

Just last May Thor opened with a mortal $65.7 million debut. What a difference a year and adding five other superheroes can make as The Avengers obliterated the opening weekend record by $38 million set by last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and grossed more than Thor or Captain America made during their entire run in only three days!

Stop Singin' in the Rain to those April Showers and get ready for the May Blockbuster Showers!

Yes, it's already here. The 2012 Summer Movie Pool!!!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Eh, how about it was the "Huh, I guess that was OK" of times. The 2011 Holiday Movie Pool has finally been drained and all that's left are some arm floaties and what I hope is an unwrapped Baby Ruth at the bottom, but we'll have to call in Bill Murray's character from Caddyshack to know for sure.

Maybe it's a sign that the Holiday leftovers were getting a little stale as a low-budget upstart took the main course this weekend. Usually, those old movies stay fresh at least until Martin Luther King Jr. Observance, but something must've scared theater-goers away. Could it be... hmm... Satan?!