'Kit Kittredge': The sequel talk begins

Now that the tween-girl-baiting Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a limited-release hit (the $9 million Depression-era film starring Abigail Breslin opened last weekend in five theaters with $220,297, an impressive average of $44,059), audiences can look forward to its wide release on July 2 — and, naturally, a second movie based on the popular American Girl line of dolls. But who will release the sequel?

Warner Bros.' Picturehouse division is releasing Kit Kittredge, but the label is due to get shuttered in October, which leaves the American Girl followup temporarily homeless. Some believe it will stay within the Warner Bros. family as a compliment to the studio's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise, while others wonder whether Picturehouse head Bob Berney will be able to take it with him to his next endeavor. (Producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas says, by the way, that movie will center on the 1970s American Girl doll Julie, and that it'll be a musical with a lot of disco and '70s rock music.)

Warner Bros. was unable to shed any light on the project, and Berney says any decision is still up in the air. "Based on the opening numbers, I'm sure there will be another American Girl story," he says. "It's too early to tell if it's Julie or another one, or how it's going to happen. But the audience is there. There will be several American Girl movies." Regardless of who releases them, that's good news for the tween set. (Additional reporting by Carrie Bell)