The Avengers

"Toy Story" meets "The Avengers" in the teaser for "The Lego Movie," a high-concept Warner Bros. idea that, until this very second, most of us didn't have any idea how they would possibly go about bringing to the bigscreen.

We're about halfway through a year that has seen no seismic shift in business from previous ones. Earlier in 2013 it was clear the year was lacking and had no "The Hunger Games" or "The Avengers" to prop up overall stats. As we've eased into summer, however, the numbers have strengthened, and audiences have feasted on a number of hits thus far, with more to come as the weather gets warmer. As expected, several of these movies are relying more and more on overseas help to weather middling domestic showings. 3D plays a big factor, but a number of smaller, mid-range projects are also finding relief internationally, which is likely due to expanding theater counts in other countries. As mediocre as some early-year numbers have been, the studios have been releasing less and less product, to the point where there are less outright flops. The number of distributors has increased, however, and this year has seen strong grosses from would-be majors like FilmDistrict, Relativity and Open Road...