You know it is summer when more than one big film is vying for the top spot at the box office. No surprise then that the bottom five are littered with previous holders. At 6 we have Super 8 with a gross of $108m followed by Green Lantern with a gross of $101m. Mr Popper's Penguins is at 8 with $50m and Bridesmaids at 9 with a very respectable $152m. Midnight in Paris hangs on to 10 with $33m.

W/e 1st July 2011

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon $97.4m (162m)

2. Cars 2 $25m (116m)

3. Bad Teacher $14.1m (59.5m)

4. Larry Crowne $13m

5. Monte Carlo $7.6m

A holiday weekend can change a lot of things at the box office. Two big but very different films competed for the top spot. Falling to number 6 is Scream 4 with a gross of $7.5m. Hop is at 7 with $10m and Beastly at 8 with $1.6m. Source Code is at 9 with a very good $8m followed by Red Riding Hood at 10 with $4m.

W/e 6th May 2011

1. Thor $8m

2. Fast Five $4m (15m)

3. Insidious $2m

4. Rio $1.4m (12m)

5. Arthur $1m (4m)

What changed how we watch films? Was it the dawn of Netflix as it trounced Blockbuster? Was it the new 3D and the rush to produce films in the format that didn't work at the box office - (The Last Airbender is a case in point)? The economy obviously has stopped people from going as often so maybe it is just changing times but ones thing is certain - the studios are scratching their heads to try and read how films will play. They think big stars guarantee box office but The King's Speech and Black Swan has proved them wrong. The leads Colin Firth and Natalie Portman respectively are certainly well known but they are not in the Tom Cruise league. However all you have to do is look at the figures coming out of the box office and you see that stars like Jack Black and Nicolas Cage not to mention Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro are not bringing in the grosses necessary to make their films go into profit. They probably will eventually but a film has to make 3 times its cost to break even so it will be an uphill struggle for some even with DVD sales. They also don't garner as much from TV as the box office numbers do tend to show how well it is likely to do in other areas. You can never tell of course and some films have done extremely well in secondary markets making up for their lack at the box office, perhaps due to people just saying "I'll wait for the DVD". With so much out there when they get around to it will depend. Doesn't mean they will rush out to buy if there is something more appealing launching at the same time!