BOX OFFICE BLAHS LIKELY TO CONTINUE

The box office has no new summer blockbuster to reinforce its sagging fortunes this weekend. Instead it will see the debut of four low-buzz movies, none of which is likely to come close to taking in as much as Shrek Forever After, which is in its third week, according to box-office forecasters. Get Him to the Greek, Splice, Marmaduke, and Killers are each expected to earn around $15-18 million, while Shrek is likely to come away with about $22-27 million. Get Him to the Greek, in which Russell Brand reprises his rock-star character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Splice, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival early this year, are each receiving decent reviews, by and large. Marmaduke is not. Killers, starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, was not shown in advance to critics.