If I’ve learned nothing else from Entertainment Weekly – and how could that possibly be the case? – it’s this: when something burbles to the surface of our pop culture three times within a relatively short period of time, it constitutes a trend. That being the case, I have spotted a trend and named it…Rush. OK, I didn’t actually name it Rush. It already had that name. But I’ve definitely noticed a pronounced uptick in Rush content in our youth culture comedies of late, and I’m not talking Limbaugh. I mean that Canadian power trio straight out of 2112. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart. Rush.

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Don’t expect Jeffrey Katzenberg to shut up about the 3D revolution anytime soon, as Monsters vs. Aliens captured the top box office spot with $58.2 million, the best opening of the year so far. Second place went to that true story The Haunting in Connecticut, which took in $23 million. Knowing, I Love You, Man and Duplicity rounded out the top five, which Watchmen finally scratched across the $100 million mark.

Prickly auteur David O. Russell apparently hasn’t alienated everyone in the movie biz.

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SXSW has shut down for another year and we now resume your regularly scheduled Morning Deal Report with the surprising news that Knowing topped the weekend box office charts. Its $24.8 million haul would seem to indicate that those of us who think Nicolas Cage makes nothing but crap these days are in the minority, but how can that be? I Love You, Man took the second spot with a slightly disappointing $18 million, while the Julia Roberts/Clive Owen caper Duplicity finished third with $14.4 million.

The Coen Brothers are back in the remake business – sort of.

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I love Paul Rudd, man. The rest of this trailer? Eh...

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Are we still calling Jennifer Lopez “J-Lo”? It seems like that sort of nickname should be reserved for someone who’s still famous. Maybe Plan B will get Lopez back on the A-list. Per Variety, the “story centers on a single woman (Lopez) who turns to artificial insemination to answer her ticking biological clock only to meet the man of her dreams on the same day as her positive pregnancy test results.” Oh no! I’ll bet you a shiny nickel the dream man turns out to be the semen donor.

SXSW has announced its opening night film.

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The ever-amusing Nicolas Cage will star in Knowing, a new thriller from Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) (oh, and I, Robot), as "a teacher who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions in the time capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction." That sounds just about stupid enough for Nicolas Cage to participate. Nicolas Cage trivia note, courtesy of IMDb: Cage titles in the works include "G-Force," "Amarillo Slim," "Time Share," "Electric God" and "Bangkok Dangerous."

Joan Allen joins Lasse Hallstrom in a remake of the Japanese film Hachiko, A Dog's Story.

Paul Rudd will star in I Love You, Man. Presumably a Paul Rudd biopic.

— Peter Smith