How to Train Your Box Office

How to Train Your Dragon has now been in theaters nationwide for five weeks and for each of those weeks it's remained at or near the number one slot at the box office. This weekend, the family film returned to the top position with $15 million, besting newer, first-week releases like The Losers ($9.6 million) and The Back-Up Plan ($12.3 million). This after a very close-call last weekend in which Dragon appeared to have beaten Kick-Ass, but narrowly dropped to second after the final tally was delivered.

The DreamWorks Animation project has been gaining significant word of mouth business lately because...well...because it's a damn good movie. And it makes perfect sense the more you think about it. Dragon isn't just a fun family film; it's accessible to nearly all audiences and features some incredibly strong 3D visuals. It also has the distinction of being the only high-quality family film presently in release next to lesser offerings like Diary of Wimpy Kid or Alice in Wonderland, which is currently wrapping up its theatrical run after two months in release.

Factor in that Dragon maintains the highest theater-count of each of the top-ten movies and appeals to the broadest possible audience and it's hardly a surprise that How to Train Your Dragon is like the $165 million movie that could...