The bean-counters at New Line will be rubbing their hands together, chuckling maniacally and thanking their lucky stars for Zac Efron and his army of screaming fans, with 17 Again storming the US box office and raking in a mega-dollarific $24.1m in its opening weekend.
Poster-boy Efron's body-swapping, time-travelling comedy left the other opener, Russell Crowe poli-thriller State Of Play, languishing in second place, with takings of $14.1m. Proof, if proof were needed, that all that growly gravitas in the world counts for little in the face of a fantatical horde of screaming teens.
There was more encouraging news for Hollywood, meanwhile, with analysts claiming that 2009 will be a record-breaking year at the box office. Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers estimates takings will break the $10bn mark for the first time in cinema history. "Unless the world goes off its axis and spins into the sun, I don't see how we're not going to have a $10bn year," Dergarabedian said, unwittingly revealing a massive spoiler for the new Roland Emmerich movie.