New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Kim Hollis: I'm generally happy with the performance but would like to shake my fist at anyone who hasn't seen it. Ratatouille is just a wonderful, glorious movie that deserves all the success in the world. I think that it suffered a bit because of the massive glut of other CGI animation that just hasn't been very good.

Jim Van Nest: Bottom line for this...the cream always rises. After all the opeing weekend inflated summer popcorn crap goes bye bye, the good stuff always hangs around.

Give it a couple weeks and when all the event films are out of steam and families are looking for a movie, the little rat movie will still be there and they'll still go. Everyone knows when you see Pixar on the marquee, it's a quality flick. Because of this, I see the rat's chances only getting better over the next few weeks.

Also, as a parent of eight- and nine-year-old boys...it'll be a cold day in hell before I take my kids out to a Pixar flick in the first week of release. I don't have that kind of patience. We'll be catching it here soon, as I expect many families will.

David Mumpower: I think it's in great shape now. $200 million appears to be a strong possibility now and I wouldn't even rule out more. It is relatively clear that people who held out on opening weekend due to the off-putting premise were firmly steered into theaters afterward by their friends who had seen it. Ratatouille is one of the finest two or three films in Pixar's illustrious history, which is as complimentary as I can be about a movie. I only like The Incredibles more for certain with Monsters, Inc. being on the same level as Ratatouille. I am happy to see it earn $62.5 million over the past seven days. Here's hoping that degree of staying power continues.

Max Braden: It's the most solid comedy out there right now, and I expect it to have strong legs even after The Simpsons opens. I really feel like the lack of huge numbers is due to a lack of the kind of marketing I remember for Cars and The Incredibles.

There's life in the old man yet

Kim Hollis: Live Free Or Die Hard fell 48% to $17.4 million this weekend, giving it a grand total of $84.2 million. Do you consider it a hit, a miss or a performance somewhere in the middle?

Reagen Sulewski: This is the point where some quiet, polite applause kicks in. A sub $40 million (and hell, if we're talking expectations, sub 60) opening could have been disastrous, with it ending up around $80-90 million. Look at how fast things like Fantastic Four cratered. There was no guarantee it'd even be a factor for its third weekend, which it now will be, at least to some degree. It seems like action movies have moved on a bit from Die Hard, which is deeply ironic, considering how Die Hard killed off a lot of the old style action films.

Tim Briody: It was fairly obvious it was going to get kneecapped by Transfomers, but that it just beat 50% is cause for some celebration, and probably a go-ahead for a fifth entry.

Kim Hollis: I think the performance has to be considered a strong one. Once total receipts, including international and DVD, are figured in, it's going to be profitable. It's a great popcorn action movie, too, so there's a lot to be happy about here.

Jim Van Nest: Considering we're 12 years off the last Die Hard and come on, did anyone actually expect it to be good??...I'd say it's doing quite well. And I'll say it now...as long as Bruce is involved, they can keep making McClane flicks til he dies (Hard, of course).

Live and Let Die Hard
To Die Hard For
Die Hard Another Day

Make em all!!!

David Mumpower: I think Jim has hit on the key. Like Rocky Balboa, the announcement of this production seemed like an Onion joke project rather than a real one. Seeing both of them turn out to be very good movies perfectly in keeping in tone with the originals from their respective franchises is a shock. To my mind, Live Free Or Die Hard is the Mission: Impossible 3 of 2007. It is a great action movie that probably deserves a better box office fate. Given its lowered expectations, however, it still feels like a financial success story. I also equate it to The Bourne Identity in that it will find even greater popularity on DVD when more people realize just how good a movie it is.

Max Braden: When I first saw the trailer back in the spring, I expected a bomb ("Is he flying the jet? That's just absurd."), so I guess the moderate opening wasn't surprising. But I think audiences have seen it and heard positive word-of-mouth, so its box office is recovering from what have might otherwise have been a flop.

Continued:       1       2       3