Marquee Stars appraises the box office prominence of marquee performers, directors, screenwriters and producers based on algorithmically adjusted moving averages. We also provide a free online calculator for use with our downloaded reports that anticipates the relative market strength of specific marquee package combinations in that 4 to 24-month window prior to release — when most talent-related capital decisions must be made.

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The week’s top favorite films consist of bellwether movies with a Marquee Stars Satisfaction Rating of 60 - Above Average or better (giving equal weight to both aggregation popular and aggregation critical responses) as ranked by their estimated global box office weekly gross.

Angelina Jolie is CIA secret agent 'Salt' in the summer's best action flick

Borrower Arietty, The (借りぐらしのアリエッティ) - Japanese speculative-present kid-centric animation

The Clock family are tiny people who live under the floor of a big house in the country. They make their way about by “borrowing” items from the old couple who live in the house.  They fear exposure daily.  If humans see them, they move.  One summer day, a boy named Sho arrives for a nearby disease treatment regimen.  When he spots the Clock’s 14-year-old daughter Arrietty, she solicits Sho’s help in keeping their secret existence and whereabouts.  Upshot: A Japanese anime reinterpretation of Mary Norton’s 1952 Carnegie Medal-winning children’s novel.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 78

Cyrus - Indiewood domestic drama comedy

Disheartened that his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) is about to remarry, a freelance film & video editor (John C. Reilly) finally meets his perfect love match (Marisa Tomei) at a party.  But her 21-year-old live-at-home aspiring-musician son (Jonah Hill) does not welcome this new intrusion into his life and deploys every underhanded and manipulative tactic he can contrive to break up his mom’s new romance. Upshot: An atypical blend of veteran studio actors with indie-spirited personalized improv humor.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 64

Flirting Scholar 2 (唐伯虎點秋香2之四大才子) - Chinese sword & sorcery goofball comedy

TANG DYNASTY (618-907 AD), CHINA. Always ready to stand up for what’s right, young Tang Bo Hu (Xiaoming Huang) finds himself in trouble for fighting.  His mother forbids him to use martial arts again and sends him away to study at Qingfeng Monastery.  Tang finds monastic life boring and cannot adjust to the austere accommodations.  Three fellow students - together the future ‘Four Great Scholars of Jian Nan’ - sneak him out for a short tension-breaking excursion.  During their covert adventure, Tang runs into and immediately falls in love with beautiful Qiu Xian (Jingchu Zhang).  Shortly afterward, a monk accuses Qiu of being a demonic Spider Spirit and wants her burned at the stake.  Qiu quickly makes good her escape, but falls into a ravine while on the run and loses her memory.  Madam Wah finds the girl and adopts her, giving her the name Chen Heung … thereby setting up the circumstances behind the 1993 rom-com action hit Flirting Scholar starring Stephen Chow and Li Gong.  Upshot: This zany Chinese opera-inspired banana peel comedic prequel lacks the charm and coherent story logic of the original 1993 classic.  Satisfaction rating: DISAPPOINTING - 36

Moss (이끼) - Korean crime thriller suspense

After losing his job and breaking up with his wife, a young man (Hae-il Park) travels to a remote mountain village to attend his father’s (Joon-ho Heo) funeral.  While there, he begins to suspect that the villagers are hiding something.  He confronts the retired-cop-turned-village elder (Jae-yeong Jeong) who thinks he’s delusional.  When he insists on an official death certificate, the villagers turn suddenly cold, watch him ever more closely and constantly ask when he will return to the city.  As he begins to investigate his father’s death, he soon learns that his father’s land has been transferred to the village elder.  Upshot: Korea’s Winter’s Bone.  Based on an 80-episode 2007 South Korean Internet comic, the film has been Korea’s most hotly awaited thriller of the summer.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 79

Ramona and Beezus - Hollywood domestic drama comedy

Although 9-year-old Ramona’s (newcomer Joey King) vivid imagination and boundless energy amuse her parents (John Corbett, Bridget Moynahan), they annoy her teenage big sister “Beezus” Beatrice (Selenz Gomez) and give rise to a mild sibling rivalry.  But when dad loses his job, Ramona’s irrepressible sense of fun and adventure helps the entire family cope with the subsequent trying times.  Upshot: Wholesome and goodhearted, the actors enliven some kid-centric charm from the classic children’s book series by Beverly Cleary. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 64

Salt - Hollywood espionage thriller action

Accused by a defector (Daniel Olbrychski) of being a sleeper Soviet-era spy assigned to assassinate the President of Russia (Olek Krupa) on US soil, a CIA officer (Angelina Jolie) must use her covert skills in a deadly cat-and-mouse chase to elude capture by her boss (Liev Schreiber) and CIA security chief (Chiwetel Ejiofor) while seeking to rescue her husband (August Diehl) from abduction.  Upshot: Best action flick of the summer! Against the current events backdrop of a real-life nest of espionage moles sent back to mother Russia comes this tense thriller made all the more intriguing by Angelina Jolie’s sterling performance … certainly the most entertaining Jolie picture since Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 75

John Cusack and Li Gong as WW2 spies in love in 'Shanghai'

Inception - Hollywood speculative-present suspense science-fiction

On a commission from a powerful Japanese industrialist (Ken Watanabe), a cutting-edge master of the subconscious (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team of specialists (including Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) must invade the dreams of a competitor’s (Pete Postlethwaite) heir (Cillian Murphy) to plant an overwhelming hypnotic idea.  Once inconspicuously inside their subject’s dreams, the team confronts a dangerous enemy with the power to predict their every move and to render them permanently trapped in mental limbo: their team leader’s deceased wife (Marion Cotillard).  Upshot: An imaginative thriller with WOW-ified visual effects.  The story demands constant attention to traverse, but is well worth the journey.  Satisfaction rating: EXCELLENT- 91

Lone Scalpel, A (孤高のメス) - Japanese medical true-to-life drama

JAPAN, 1989.  After losing his mother at an early age to a misdiagnosis, the new Chief of Surgery (Shinichi Tsutsumi) at City Hospital dedicated himself to a medical career, even studying abroad at the University of Pittsburgh where he became familiar with organ transplantation.  Now the city mayor (Akira Emoto) has been admitted to his ER in critical condition.  To save his VIP patient, the Chief must decide whether to violate antiquated medical laws by performing Japan’s first-ever liver transplant from a brain-dead donor … knowing that he will be charged with murder should the operation fail.  Upshot: Based on the novel by Toshihiko Ohgane, MD.  Satisfaction rating: EXCELLENT - 84

Man with a Vendetta (파괴된 사나이, aka A Broken Man) - Korean crime thriller suspense

The 5-year-old daughter (So-Hyun Kim) of a devout minister (Myeong-min Kim) is kidnapped…  8 YEARS LATER…  The minister has lost his faith in God.  His wife (Joo-Mi Park) has been hospitalized owing to her exhaustive unending search for their daughter.  Then out of the blue, a mysterious psychopath calling himself “Rudolph” (Gi-joon Eom) contacts the minister and demands a ransom for his daughter.  Realizing that his daughter is still alive, the minister chooses instead to use all of his resources to rescue the girl in a breathtaking race against time.  Upshot:  Ransom, Korean-style.   Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 73

Pokémon: Phantom Ruler Zoroark (劇場版ポケットモンスター／ダイヤモンド＆パール　幻影の覇者 ゾロアーク) - Japanese magical action animation

Celebi time-travels back to Crown City from 20 years in the future to prevent Pokémon Raikou, Entei and Suicune from becoming embroiled in a battle with Satoshi, Takeshi and Hikari at the annual Pokémon Baccer World Cup that might spell disaster for the entire city. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 74

Railways (RAILWAYS 49歳で電車の運転士になった男の物語) - Japanese business melodramatic drama

TOKYO, PRESENT DAY.  Promised a seat on the Board, a late-40s corporate executive (Kiichi Nakai) at Keiyo Electric must orchestrate the closing of a manufacturing plant run by a dear old friend (Kenichi Endo) as part of an belt-tightening plan.  Meanwhile his wife (Reiko Takashima) and university-aged daughter (Yuika Motokariya) nag him about spending too much time at his stressful job away from the family.  Soon after, upon learning that his friend has been killed in an automobile accident, he chucks his high-pressure job to fulfill his boyhood dream of becoming a streetcar engineer on the Ichibata Electric Railway.  Upshot: A superb example of Japan’s long cinematic tradition of dramatized corporate infomercials.  Satisfaction rating: EXCELLENT - 82

Shanghai (諜海風雲) - Indiewood period espionage romance suspense

Shanghai, 1941.  Four Months prior to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.  Posing as a journalist, an American spy (John Cusack) returns to Shanghai from Berlin to investigate the murder of his best friend (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the sudden disappearance of his friend’s girlfriend (Rinko Kikuchi).  His friend had been investigating the connection between a local triad leader (Yun-Fat Chow), a Japanese intelligence officer (Ken Watanabe) and a German agent (Franka Potente).  While gradually uncovering larger secrets involving Nazi Germany, the unexpected movement of Japanese battleships and US intelligence, the American spy soon finds himself falling in love with the triad leader’s seductive wife (Li Gong) whom the Japanese suspect also may be a spy. Upshot: Casablanca in China.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 62

Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The - Hollywood magical adventure fantasy

Having finally located master sorcerer Merlin’s biological heir-apparent after more than a millennium of looking, Merlin’s loyal disciple (Nicolas Cage) attempts to train the disbelieving college nerd (Jay Baruchel) - who’s more interested in pursuing a pretty coed (Teresa Palmer) - in the ways of magic and science.  Meanwhile, a recently-escaped rogue disciple (Alfred Molina) works furiously to free a sinister witch (Alice Krige) to take over the world.  Only the ill-prepared incompetent apprentice possesses the untapped power to oppose them.  Upshot:  Harry Potter at NYU … a fantastic CGI-laden family-appropriate flick that enchants the teenage boy of any age.  The story, however, does not add anything particularly innovative to the magical mythos already found in the wizarding world of the Harry Potter series.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 57

American-born Daniel Wu stars in the cat-and-mouse police crime suspenser 'Triple Tap'

Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose (踊る大捜査線 THE MOVIE 3 ヤツらを解放せよ!) - Japanese police comedy action

Seven years later.  As terrorists target locales within his jurisdiction, Detective Aoshima (Yuji Oda) takes charge as the newly-promoted section chief.  He must immediately administer moving into a new headquarters, dissention among his subordinates and eight daunting cases - including murders, bomb threats and bus hijackings - as the terrorist chaos unfolds.  Upshot: This long-awaited sequel to the 2003 top-performing live-action domestic film, based on the Fuji TV series, plays like a routine police procedural. Satisfaction rating: BELOW AVERAGE - 37

Despicable Me - Hollywood domestic sci-fi animation

In the world of the wicked, arch-criminal Gru tries to out-dastardly his arch-rival Vector by shrinking then stealing the moon from the sky until three orphan girls melt his heart and turn Gru into a responsible dad.  Upshot: The voices of Steve Carell and Jason Segel in family-friendly fun.  Satisfaction rating: EXCELLENT - 85

I Hate Luv Stories - Bollywood work place situation romantic-comedy

While working on a romance film for a hot Bollywood director (Samir Soni), a playboy assistant director (Imran Khan) who abhors love stories must work with an irritatingly upbeat production designer (Sonam Kapoor) who lives for love stories.  Sparks fly when they meet and, soon, their own relationship unfolds in tandem with the screen story they’re filming.  Upshot: Cute premise, cute stars, but too predictable.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 45

Predators - Hollywood alternate world sci-fi action

Shanghaied to a forested planet, a black Ops mercenary (Adrien Brody) and an American commando (Lawrence Fishburne) lead an ad hoc team of notorious killers (including Alice Braga and Topher Grace) in a battle of survival against a group of human-eating advanced alien predators who hunt them for sport.  Upshot: A competent re-launch of the Predator serial from the late 1980s. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 72

Triple Tap (鎗王之王) - Chinese crime action suspense

After winning a pistol competition with a triple tap (three bullets in the same hole), a successful fund manager (Louis Koo) happens upon a armored car heist in progress and saves the hostage policemen by shooting four of five perpetrators.  Later, once cleared by the law and proclaimed a hero by the public, the fund manager is attacked unsuccessfully by the escaped perpetrator (Chapman To).  The police investigator (Daniel Wu) on the case, also the fund manager’s chief rival from the pistol competition, now suspects that the fund manager may have been part of the robbery.  A cat-and-mouse battle of wits quickly develops between the two men filled with lies, traps, alluring women and perilous twists.  Upshot: A fresh cast, good action but uneven plotting follow-up on 2000’s local hit Double Tap.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 55

Welcome to Shamatown (決戰剎馬鎮) - Chinese domestic situation comedy

1931, Northwestern China: The legendary bandit Shuanzi Hu (Honglei Sun) appears in Shamatown with ancient artifacts that supposedly lead to a buried treasure.  2006, Shamatown: In an attempt to promote his town as a bandit-themed holiday resort, the ambitious new mayor (Honglei Sun) takes these same artifacts onto a TV antiques show where the panel dismisses them as worthless.  Undeterred, the mayor bribes the TV moderator (Yuan Xie) to return with him to publicize their staged discovery of the buried treasure.  The mayor’s restaurateur girlfriend (Chiling Lin) doubts his wild scheme to turn their jerkwater village into a tourist boomtown.  Meanwhile, one of the TV panelists alerts a crooked Taiwanese-American art collector (Li-chun Lee) who descends on the village with a group of illegal dealers. Soon treasure fever grips the whole community.  Upshot: China’s Crazy Stone meets A Simple Noodle Story from award-winning commercials director Weiran Li. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 62

(L) Isabelle Funaro and (R) Michael Youn in 'Fatal'

Last Airbender, The - Hollywood sword & sorcery adventure fantasy

After a century frozen in ice, the last surviving Airbender (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone reincarnated Avatar with the potential to manipulate all four elements: air, water, earth and fire.  But he only knows the ways of air.  He joins forces with a young Waterbender (Nicola Peltz) and her brother (Jackson Rathbone) to learn about water and to prevent the Fire Nation from conquering the Water Nation while being hotly pursued by a banished Fire Prince (Dev Patel).  Upshot: Dazzling 3D special effects provide the frosting for this simple myth-blended extranatural martial arts plotline based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series.  Satisfaction rating: BELOW AVERAGE - 25

Fatal - French entertainment goofball comedy

Heavy bling-bling hardcore rapper Fatal Bazooka (Michael Youn) is an overnight success, having sold 15 million CDs of his album.  In keeping with his music, Fatal has led his fans to believe he grew up in the ghetto when, really, he’s from a village in the French Alps.  But now with the sudden media attention, he’ll go to any lengths to hide his background.  How can he remain “gangsta” when his real life parents are shepherds in Savoy?  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 66

Outrage (アウトレイジ) - Japanese crime drama action

The chairman (Soichiro Kitamura) of Tokyo’s largest crime syndicate issues a stern warning to his yakuza lieutenant (Tomokazu Miura) and right-hand man (Jun Kunimura) about getting too cozy with the leader (Renji Ishibashi) of an unaffiliated gang.  To prove loyalty, the lieutenant immediately orders the unaffiliated gang brought to heel.  The lieutenant’s direct subordinate (Takeshi Kitano) and crew then set a trap that unleashes a brutal series Hatfield-and-McCoy-style ambushes, schemes, new alliances, stratagems, betrayals, counter-traps and more assassinations.  Upshot: Despite a move toward a Wall Street corporate façade, in the criminal underworld, those who trust anything by guns and violence usually wind up dead.  Selected for the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, but did not attract the same level of foreign press raves as previous yakuza films from director-star Takeski Kitano.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 66

Twilight 3: Eclipse - Hollywood folkloric fantasy romance

Seeking revenge for the demise of her lover, villainess vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) raises an army of powerful “newborn” vampires to send against graduating North Country high schooler Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattison).  Bella quickly finds herself torn between her cool love for Edward and her hot-blooded attraction for native Indian buddy-turned-werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) when the two young men join forces to protect Bella from the army of newborns. Upshot: With a better balance between action, fantasy and romance, the film gratifies confirmed fans of the series, but will not increase its already vast legions of devoted followers. Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 54

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

71 - Into the Gunfire (포화 속으로) - Korean wartime action drama

After hostilities commence in June 1950, seventy-one student volunteers are taught to fire exactly one shot, then are posted in front the Pohang Girl’s Middle School with orders to defend the quiet town.  That night the student soldiers are surprise-attacked by hundreds of heavily-equipped North Korean regulars.  The outnumbered students confront adult emotions as they fight fiercely to the last soul, buying vital time for the routed South Korean army to regroup along the Nakdong River and to be joined by UN forces.  Upshot:  South Korea’s Alamo.  A true story inspired by a letter found among the 71 deceased student soldiers, this movie is the first of several upcoming films in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 77

Grown Ups - Hollywood domestic goofball comedy

After their high school basketball coach passes away, five former teammates (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider) refresh their bonds of friendship and family over a Fourth of July weekend at the lake resort where they previously celebrated their youthful championship season.  Upshot: More gags than story. Satisfaction rating: BELOW AVERAGE - 37

Knight and Day - Hollywood espionage rom-com action

A charming but lethal covert agent (Tom Cruise), who may have gone rogue, abducts a sweet-natured unlucky-in-love classic car restorer (Cameron Diaz) to keep her from becoming an accidental target of assassination.  They are pursued across the globe by determined federal agents (Viola Davis, Peter Sarsgaard) while trying to prevent a secret high-tech invention and its inventor (Paul Dano) from falling in the wrong hands.  Upshot:  Lots of charisma, lots of fun.   Much better than critics would have you believe.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 65

Lost on Journey (人在囧途) - Chinese road trip drama comedy

As the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival approaches, a toy company executive (Zheng Xu) plans to join his wife in their hometown of Changsha to announce that he’s leaving her for another woman.  But when his flight is cancelled for inclement weather, he boards a train where he joins forces with a zany farm worker (Baoqiang Wang) to overcome one natural disaster after another, switching from train to bus, to ferry, to truck and even to tractor in their mad two-day dash to make the holiday.  Once home, he realizes he still loves his wife and does not want to break up their happy family.  Upshot:  Planes, Trains and Automobiles in China.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 66

Raavan - Bollywood crime action romance

When a young police officer (Chiyaan Vikram) accepts the assignment of restoring law and order to the remote northern town of Lal Maati, the local tribal leader (Abhishek Bachchan) challenges his authority by kidnapping the policeman’s new bride (Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan).  The tribal leader quickly falls in love the beautiful woman, touching off a war both for control of the town as well as for the woman’s heart.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 55