Blade II: $33 million opening.
The Time Machine: $22 million opening.
We Were Soldiers: $20 million opening.
Resident Evil: $17 million opening.

But it's not only this month that is baffling; these first three months of the year have had all kinds of hits:
Black Hawk Down: $28 million opening (and went on to make over $100 million).
A Beautiful Mind: Had an average opening but in three months has grossed over $150 million!
John Q: $20 million opening and has grossed almost $70 million so far.
Snow Dogs: Started off with an average weekend and went on to make over $70 million.
LOTR: Actually made about $140 million of its almost $300 million this year.
Orange County, Crossroads, Queen of the Damned and Collateral Damage all opened with mid-to-high teens on their respective opening weekends. Of course there are also movies that did below expectations, but that happens no matter what time of year it is. And this month ain't over quite yet. Next weekend there are two movies that could do pretty good in theaters: Death to Smoochy and Panic Room.

April will most likely not be as big as this month but it will also have its share of hits: Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman and Jim Caviezel in High Crimes, a somewhat all-star cast in Big Trouble; Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson in Changing Lanes, The Rock in The Scorpion King, Sandra Bullock in Murder by Numbers, Angelina Jolie in Life, or Something Like it (this movie looks great!).

Also looking back at last year, movies like Hannibal and Spy Kids both made over $100 million earlier in the year. There was also The Sixth Sense that opened in late summer a few years back and then went on to make almost $300 million in post-summer months. But the pre-summer madness won't be over yet this year! Summer actually starts with with Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. But the way that Hollywood has released some major movies earlier in the month makes it seem that school must be out sooner every year. Last year one of the biggest hits was released in early May, The Mummy Returns.

This year the biggest month as far as box office grosses should be May, with the release of the two most anticipated movies of the summer; both Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones are almost guaranteed to have over $200 million by the end of May!

Looking at last summer (Mummy, Planet Of The Apes, Pearl Harbor, Shrek, Tomb Raider, Jurassic Park 3, Rush Hour 2, American Pie 2) and looking ahead to this summer (Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones, MIB2, Austin Powers 3, Signs, XXX, Red Dragon, Scooby-Doo, Minority Report, K-19, Windtalkers, Spy Kids 2, Road to Perdition, Stuart Little 2 and Mr. Deeds) you can fully understand why some studios release their hopefuls before summer, instead of during it. If I was a studio head and I needed a movie to have some room to breathe, I would not release it during the summer. Sure, if it was a guaranteed blockbuster like Spider-Man or Attack of the Clones, then I would put it where ever I wanted so that the other studio heads have to scramble and set new dates for their movies. Imagine George Lucas decided to release Attack of the Clones here in the middle of March instead of in the middle of May. Ice Age would've most likely been released earlier or later and the same can be said for Blade II.

Anyway, the point of this article is that from now on you can expect blockbuster type movies year round, not just in the summer months. Even the November to December holiday season has risen to new heights, as the two top grossing movies released last year were both released in those two months (Harry Potter and LOTR). And to think this November and December the second installments of both movies are going to be released along with Santa Clause 2, Die Another Day (Bond 20), Confession of a Dangerous Mind and Analyze That.

Who cares about the paltry $8 billion (or something like that) the movie business grossed last year! This year is already on pace to surpass that total and the most anticipated movies haven't even been released yet.