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Sit tight and await the coming year-end releases of Narnia, King Kong, the Spielberg thing, and, finally, the gay cowboy movie. In the meantime, the weekend's box office numbers:

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—$20.45 million
We admit that this is an incredibly simplistic (and factually inaccurate) way to look at things, but we've always had a taste for the hysterical: Without Harry Potter propping up the movie industry this weekend, the studios would have been forced to shutter their operations, raze their lots, and radically shift toward a agribusiness model where government farming subsidies are embezzled to make executives' Malibu beach house payments. All hail Harry Potter, Hollywood's wand-waving savior!

2. Aeon Flux—$13.1 million
Paramount must be incredibly disappointed this morning. Despite their best efforts to bury the film (that at one time was probably viewed as a blockbuster franchise) by refusing to screen it for critics, who predictably went apeshit on it once they got a peek, $13 million still somehow found its way to Aeon Flux. Better luck next time, guys. If you're really serious about killing the movie, make sure that an image of Charlize Theron in spandex appears nowhere on the DVD box and try to take the full write-off.

3. Walk the Line—$10 million
Reese Witherspoon OscarWatch: To prepare for the memorable scene in which June Carter disgustedly throws beer bottles at problem-drinking future husband Johnny Cash, Witherspoon chucked freshly-emptied wine coolers at helpful househusband Ryan Phillippe when she returned from the set each evening.

4. Yours, Mine & Ours—$8.4 million
It's less than three weeks until Cheaper by the Dozen 2 swoops down and puts Yours, Mine & Ours out of its family movie misery.

5. Just Friends—$5.9 million
Instead of resorting to derisively calling this the most successful Ryan-Reynolds-in-a-fat-suit comedy of 2005, we'll note that we saw The Squid and the Whale for the second time this weekend, and it was still pretty damn awesome.