Earlier today, Dateline Hollywood Daily speculated that the movie adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300, which brought in well over $27 million Friday night in only 3,103 theatres, "looks set to shatter the record for biggest March opening ever," amassing "what is likely to be a $60+ million weekend."  And that’s with the time change and the relatively balmy weather in the northeast this weekend!  Now AP’s David Germain reports that Warner has estimated the weekend’s take at $70 million, which would break last year’s $68 million record for the Ice Age sequel, which played in 850 more theaters.  It’s also about $5-10 million more than the movie cost to make.

Maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised, considering the amount of buzz the film has generated among everyone from women happy to see something catering to the female gaze to political bloggers interpreting parallels between the Battle of Thermopylae and the current situation in Iraq to enthusiastic action-flick audiences just in it for the blood and guts. 

It’s not very often that a movie comes along with something for just about everyone — it even serves as a great discussion topic for those who’ve seen it and don’t particularly care for it!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, John August has been chosen to write the screenplay for New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the DC comic Shazam!, currently enjoying a resurgence thanks to the writing and art of Bone creator Jeff Smith.  August has served as screenwriter for a number of Tim Burton’s recent movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride and Charlie the Chocolate Factory.

But it wasn’t Smith to whom August turned for continuity advice. Instead he had a session with Geoff Johns for "idiot checking" to keep it true to the characters that readers expect.  "I think we’re going to be able to be really faithful to the mythology and yet make it completely transparent for people who have no idea who the character is," August said, adding, "It’s a unique opportunity to do a comic book movie where the character in it actually read comic books."

The will be produced by Michael Ewing and Peter Segal; Segal is also set to direct.  Let the casting call speculations begin!