I created this posting a few days ago, and thought it was too busy and statistical to post.  Had just about made up my mind to just toss it away, then I thought, perhaps a few of you actually desire numbers and such.  So why waste all this work.  For most of you who don't like this kind of detail,   just skip this early portion and scroll down to my usual style --where there is this row of asterisks--for I will then write about the wonderful state of the Yen vs Dollar conversion rate if you have Japan in your travel plans.   But, whoops, certainly looks like, again, too much data.  So I add a second row of asterisks for many to scroll down to save time.  Then, like yesterday, a segue into best films and a Taylor Swift sighting in London. So anyway, have you been going to your hometown movie theater lately?  From  Box Office Mojo,  here are the figures by year for the USA. Year Total Gross %± LY Releases Average #1 Release 1977 $443,497,461 +290.6% 9 $49,277,495 Star Wars: Episode I