I haven’t gotten my usual Thursday numbers yet, but Fantasy Moguls’ Steve Mason is projecting Superbad as the weekend’s #1 film with a significantly higher figure than I’d previously estimated — about $27.5 million. (I was thinking more like $21 or $22 million, maybe a bit more.) Rush Hour 3 will be second with about $22 milion and The Bourne Ultimatum will come in third with $19. 3 million. Mason foresees The Invasion earning $11 million or so. I see it doing more like $10 million.

Superbad is in solid with under-25 males, but it has an across-the board general awareness of only 54%. Think about that for twenty seconds. Think of all the great reviews, word-of-mouth, advance screenings and constant internet attention that Greg Mottola‘s film has acquired over the last two or three weeks. You’d really have to be unconscious in a cave with earplugs to have missed all the hype, and yet 46% of the people contacted by phone trackers are still going “huh?” — they haven’t even heard of it.

Where do they find these people? How can anyone be walking around this blocked? Do they have corks in their ears? Are they mentally challenged?