What Horton and His Friends Are Really Hearing

By Steven Zeitchik

The clean sweep at the box-office by "Horton Hears a Who" this weekend offers more than a few clues to anyone who might be wondering about the future of the movie biz.

The top four weekend openers so far this year each speak to a category whose importance to Hollywood has surged in the last few years.

Loosely defined, they are: the family friendly cartoon ("Horton," first with $45 million); the low-budget, star-free genre pic ("Cloverfield, second with $40m); the big-budget, effects-driven tentpole ("10,000 B.C., " third with $36m); and the movie with the youth-friendly, multiplatform star who's mystifying to the rest of us ("Hannah Montana," fourth with $31m).

Notice that among these top films are no conventional romantic comedies like "27 Dresses," no star-driven male comedies like "Semi-Pro," no star-driven actioners like "Jumper," and no star-driven dramas like "The Bucket List."

And we wonder why studios are getting out of those businesses.