Well, unlike some speculation, it looks like Watchmen is not going to be a flop:

Superhero blockbuster “Watchmen” dominated the weekend box office by grossing an estimated $55.7 million, scoring the biggest opening of any film this year.

The movie cost an estimated $150M which means it needs to generate at least twice that much to make a profit (per the studios’ voodoo economic way of doing things). Depending upon word of mouth, perhaps Watchmen hits $150-200M in domestic B.O., but I doubt it. Nonetheless figure in international B.O., DVD sales, and all the rest, the movie should make money.

Also this looks like 8 weeks out of 9 where 2009 weekend B.O. is up compared to 2008. That is an unprecedented streak. Here’s yet another analysis why this year is going gangbusters at the box office:

The past few weeks have been full of theories as to why the public has taken an interest in the normally dormant early months of the year. The most frequent explanation is that a recession-weary populace has been anxious for an escape. But there’s also the fact that studios, flush with product from the days when hedge fund money flowed into Hollywood, just needed a place to put their movies — and audiences welcomed the product.

In the past four years, private equity money flowed into Hollywood, creating a surplus of movies and forcing studios to rethink their long-established release patterns.

It has required Hollywood to start something it had previously paid lip service to: a genuine year-round calendar, where high-profile releases are dispatched on weekends that used to be box office dumping grounds.

That’s true. Jan, Feb, and March have always been the dumping grounds for bad movies. Looks like Hwood is going to have to rethink that model.