But still, Get Smart versus Love Guru is a hell of a quandary. So just for the hell of it, let's hear what the put-upon, overproducing likes of Alan Horn and even Dick Cook are complaining about today:

Adding to their costs, movie companies spend huge sums to globally promote and release their films — as much as $150 million for some big event pictures.

"In order to break through the clutter, we all feel the pressure to spend more in marketing," said Warner Bros. President Alan Horn. ...

This summer, Disney's much-anticipated sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, got upstaged by two behemoths opening in proximity, Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

"There were these giant vacuum cleaners on either side of us, and it took significant amounts of business away for our movie," said Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook.

In fact, pretty much everyone's a winner in the Times's parallel universe — even the beleaguered Weinstein Company and MGM are piling on! Meanwhile, Picturehouse is winding down its staff buyouts as we speak, and ThinkFILM is still battling rumors of its own demise. "Who?" you ask. Don't worry — the LAT will cover them after they and their, ahem, vacuums are safely liquidated.

[Photo Credit: Paul Duginski, Los Angeles Times]

• Movie release dates become tough for studios to script [LAT]

· The Happening: We don't know how much more there is to say about Manoj's Folly, but the accompanying photo suggests the troubled film's marketing campaign may have its own climactic twist ending in mind. Follow the jump for a larger version and the rest of our glimpse at cinema's June swoon.

· The Love Guru: Still no word yet on whether irritable Hindu spiritual leader Rajan Zed had his studio-promised look at Mike Myers' bomb-to-be, but go-to Hindi heartwarmer (and supposed Love Guru influence) Deepak Chopra got loose with both an essay in Guru's defense and a word of support for Myers:

"He said, 'Listen, it's kind of a satire. It's a lampoon,'" Chopra said, recalling Myers' words. "He said on the surface it's like that, but on a deeper level, it's a tribute."

Myers "has the most profound understanding of Eastern wisdom, traditions and spirituality," Chopra said. "In the end, the movie is about self-esteem and love. It is about, in fact, love being the ultimate truth. He goes about it in a very silly, humorous way, but that's his style."

What? It's a comedy? Huh. We'll be damned — literally.

· Get Smart: We're getting a bad feeling about the movie for which we nurtured some of our highest summer hopes. First, there was that excruciating Carell/Rock/Hathaway interlude Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards, during which an audience member was responsible for the funniest joke:

A pair of sources also sent word in recent days that a small press screening last week yielded generally scalding reaction. Warner Bros. , meanwhile, is offering the minimum one screening on each coast the week of its June 20 release — opposite The Love Guru. We might make alternate plans that weekend; maybe the Dark Knight trailer? Like, 40 times in a row?