Hey, guys. This is your Hollywood guy signing off. I have to give up this spot because of time constraints caused by my other work, including my After Dark and Adventures in Barrywood columns.

I have appreciated your loyalty to this blog, and I hope you come visit me at my other locations on this site. I’ll leave forwarding addresses below.

Once again, thanks and let’s keep in touch.

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My favorite UCI business professor Richard McKenzie is giving away free advice. That’s why he’s my favorite UCI business professor.

McKenzie, the author of the intriguing book “Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, and Other Pricing Puzzles,” is sympathetic to the plight of movie-goers who are having a tough time scraping up enough money to attend the cinema.

Therefore, the good professor has come up with a list of ways to save money at the movie theater.

1. Go in the afternoon.

2. Check with your local theater on whether they lower prices on different nights.

3. Order the medium bag of popcorn (that’s from his book, in which he proves that the medium is the best bargain of all the popcorn sizes).

4. Avoid the combos - they’re not such a bargain.

5. Buy your tickets at Costco - you could save as much as 30 percent.

6. Buy your tickets at the student center of your local college or university.

7. Go on Tuesdays - some chains offer free popcorn and other incentives.

8. Use a theater chain rewards card.

9. Bring your own candy and popcorn.

10. Wait for the movie to come out on DVD.

Just wanted to drop a note to tell you that I’m taking a week off. I would rather not tell you where I’m going because I hate being followed by adoring fans.

No, I’m not even going to give you a hint.

But I do promise to drink, gamble and cavort.

Just don’t ask where I’m going. I need my privacy. I’ll be back blogging on July 9, unless I win Megabucks, and then you’ll never hear from me again.

That’s all I can say for now. The rest is a big secret.

Remember 1983? It was a time when cell phones were considered futuristic and computer hackers were still thought of in a positive light by many people.

Matthew Broderick played just such a lovable hacker in the film “Wargames.” One day, while searching (hacking) for some games to play on his computer, he almost started World War III. Oh, those adorable hackers.

Ally Sheedy played his love interest, although her character normally wouldn’t have been caught dead in the company of a geek - that is, until he changed her grade by hacking into the school computer.

“Wargames” was a pretty big hit in its time, and the upcoming release of a 25th anniversary DVD is being celebrated in a most unusual way.

On Thursday, July 24, the movie will be shown once only in 300 movie theaters around the country, and will include taped interviews with the cast.

I have to be honest with you. “Wargames,” which was directed by John Badham, is one of my many cinematic guilty pleasures. If I’m channel surfing and come across the film, I find it almost impossible to look away. “I’ll just watch this one scene,” I’ll tell myself. And then I’ll watch the whole thing.

The movie actually holds up, with some notable technological exceptions, and the message is as pertinent today as it was then.

The local theaters showing the film include: the Irvine Spectrum, The Block, Tustin Legacy 14, Huntington Beach 20, Orange Stadium Promenade 25, Brea 22 East and the Garden Grove 16.

The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m.

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The dumbing down of Hollywood

They never made a sequel to “Titanic” for obvious reasons.

They never made a sequel to “The Alamo” for obvious reasons.

They never made a sequel to “Gladiator” for obvious reasons.

But, somehow, someway, someone has figured out a way to make a follow-up movie to “300,” the hit film about the last stand of 300 Spartans.

In case you didn’t know, the words “last stand” usually mean that the people involved died. And in “300,” all the heroes of the film died. Big time.

But that hasn’t stopped Warner Bros., director Zack Snyder and legendary writer Frank Miller from discussing the possibility of a new film. The director says he wants to see Miller’s script before he signs a contract, and Miller isn’t talking about his idea for a second film.

One possibility, and as far as I’m concerned it’s the only possibility, is a prequel, in which we see King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler in the original) as a young man. 

UNRELATED BUT STILL FUN

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Everybody expected “WALL-E” to do well in its opening weekend. It’s a Pixar film, after all. It’s a lock. There hasn’t been a Pixar failure yet.

But nobody was quite sure whether there was an audience for the “Matrix-like” action film “Wanted,” starring a heavily tattooed Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy.

Well, guess what? Both films did extraordinary business over the weekend, with the animated family film raking in $62.5 million, while the action flick made a cool $51.1 million.

It was the third best opening weekend ever for a Pixar film, behind “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.”

Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed “WALL-E,” also was responsible for “Finding Nemo,” which is the biggest overall grosser in Pixar Animation Studios history.

And “Wanted” was one for the record books as well. Its haul was the biggest June opening ever for an “R” rated film, and the sixth biggest opening for any month for an “R” rated movie.

Last week’s champ, “Get Smart,” held on for third place with $20 million, giving it a grand total of $77.3 million.

Jack Black and his animated film “Kung Fu Panda” is still breaking a few boards, with an $11.7 million take, for a total of $179 million.

In fifth place was “The Incredible Hulk” with $9.2 million. It was followed by the Mike Myers’ stinker “The Love Guru” ($5.4 million), “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” ($5 million, and $300 million total), “The Happening” ($3.8 million), “Sex and the City” ($3.7 million) and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” ($3.2 million).

Charles Bronson was one of the scariest dudes to ever work in the sissy field of movie acting.

I’m not talking about actors who play scary dudes. Bronson certainly did that, but he also looked like he could handle himself in a real fracus. There have been only a handful of actors like that. The rest are just make-believe tough guys.

I had lunch with Bronson once in the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, and I was reminded of that meeting when I received a press release telling me that Saturday is National Handshake Day. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, Bronson was already seated with his publicist when I walked up and extended my hand. He grabbed it and held onto it tightly. He then turned to his publicist and said in a slow, menacing  growl: “Finally, a journalist with a firm, dry handshake.”

I almost wet my pants.

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Quick, name the greatest stoner movie of all time.

Was it “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” featuring Sean Penn in his most memorable role as stoner surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (pictured at left)?

As you probably know, every stoner-dude performance since that movie has been based on Spicoli. And they’ve all been pale imitations, I might add. Penn deserved the Oscar for that performance, man.

OK, so if your favorite stoner movie is not “Fast Times,” perhaps it’s “Up in Smoke,” Cheech & Chong’s best movie ever, dude. That movie had more weed-smoking scenes in it than any movie in history.

What about “Dazed and Confused“? or “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”? And who can forget the original stoner movie - “Reefer Madness“? 

Anyway, with those movies in mind, I went to see “Pineapple Express” last night. It certainly deserves to be included among the great stoner movies, although I’m not sure how great it is as a movie. Who can deny that “Fast Times” is a great movie?

I should note that “Pineapple Express” won’t hit theaters until Aug. 8, but the studio is showing it to the media early in advance of a threatened actor’s strike that could shut down Hollywood.

The movie, yet another from the Judd Apatow stable, stars Seth Rogen as a stoned-out process server and James Franco as his drug dealer. The movie starts out as a straight stoner movie (get it?) and then transforms into an action chase flick as the stoners try to elude a band of cutthroat killers (are there any other kind?).

I’ll let you decide where it stands among the great stoner movies. But let me know your favorite stoner movie. That’s assuming you have enough energy to get off the sofa and turn on your computer.

 SOME OTHER LIGHT READING

From a movie-going standpoint, there are two kinds of Fourth of July weekends.

There are July 4th weekends with a new Will Smith movie coming out, and there are July 4th weekends with no Will Smith movie coming out.

This upcoming Fourth is the former. Lucky us.

And even luckier still is that this particular Will Smith movie is not “Wild Wild West.”

You’ll have to determine for yourself where it stands in the pantheon of Will Smith movies, but I enjoyed it very much.

No spoiler alert is needed right here. I intend to give nothing away. Any person who gives away key plot twists before you have a chance to see the movie is a jerk.

I will tell you what it’s about. Smith plays an alcoholic superhero. He’s got most of Superman’s powers, but none of his class. In fact, people can’t stand him. Jason Bateman is hysterical as a public relations guy who tries to rehabilitate the superhero’s image. Charlize Theron, looking considerably better than her “Monster” days, portrays Bateman’s wife.

I won’t tell you anymore about the story. Peter Berg (”Very Bad Things,” “Friday Night Lights“) did an exceptional job directing his first superhero film, and he made it different than any superhero movie you’ve ever seen. Sure, it has spectacular special effects, but it’s got angst up the ying-yang.

You think Spider-Man has issues? Hancock’s issues could beat up Spider-Man’s issues.

This movie should make a few bucks. It might even be the number one movie for the five-day holiday weekend - by about $100 million.

“Hancock” opens July 2.  

As an addendum to my weekend box office review Click here , I’d like to expand the discussion to include revenues from around the world.

I think there are two misconceptions concerning the current box office picture. The first is that “Sex and the City” did very well with women in this country, particularly with women from major metropolitan areas, but that women in the heartland and women around the world did not identify with the four New York City urbanites.

Well, that assumption would be wrong.

In fact, while “Sex and the City” has made an astounding $130 million in this country, crossing all geographical lines, it has made an even more astounding $170 million outside the United States, for a total of $300 million. That’s a great number for a guy movie, let alone a “chick flick” that isn’t supposed to have “legs.” That’s why this movie has turned Hollywood on its collective ear.

The other misconception is that “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is a big hit but not necessarily a blockbuster.

Another wrong assumption.

The truth is that Steven Spielberg’s fourth Indy adventure is approaching $700 million worldwide. That puts the movie in a nice neighborhood, the kind of neighborhood populated by the likes of Pixar and Harry Potter movies.