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Jim Van Nest: I'm with the Disturbia crowd. While David makes good points, I don't think you can automatically say the better performer is the bigger surprise. Not with our current knowledge. Now, if we went back to January and compared the two, I'd agree Superbad would be the bigger surprise. But as soon as Knocked Up went nuts, Superbad's future seemed pretty well laid out. Disturbia had nothing going for it. I'm still not sure what put people in the theaters for it.

Max Braden: I think Disturbia did face weaker competition, but that was also the time of year. Disturbia's success is due to it being a competent thriller that teens could actually take dates to. Disturbia is certainly the bigger surprise, but total success? I think Superbad wins that title. Not only will it outperform Disturbia in the theaters, it will certainly eclipse Disturbia on DVD. And if you had to pick one of the two production teams to work with again, wouldn't you pick the guys from Superbad?

There's Something About Matt Damon...

Kim Hollis: The Bourne Ultimatum finished in second place with $12.4 million, giving it a running total of $185.1 million. It has become the most successful Bourne movie domestically and will assuredly wind up somewhere north of $200 million. Are you surprised that a month later, it's still the second most popular film in North America? How do you explain its success?

Dan Krovich: It's obviously a great success story with great legs, but the #2 spot at this point also has a lot to do with the fact that we're in the late August dumping ground for films.





David Mumpower: I think we did a good job of chronicling its success when we discussed its opening and second weekend performances. Reviews oozing with heartfelt adoration for the movie combined with arguably the best word-of-mouth of the year to date have led to a marvelous demonstration of legs. Dan dismisses its finishing second as no big deal due to the scarcity of quality late August releases, and I guess that's fair. I want to put it in some different context, though. The Bourne Ultimatum earned an estimated $12.4 million in its fourth weekend. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End earned $12.4 million in its fourth weekend. We are talking about a title that opened $45.5 million larger that Bourne is now matching. That's impressive, plain and simple.

Pete Kilmer: I think the fact that Bourne is smartest action movie of the summer is a key factor. It continues to generate word-of-mouth with great story, strong editing, terrific acting and a strong director all point to a big success. Compare it to the Pirates movie of this summer...it had some terrific acting, but poor editing, sloppy direction and frankly it was just a mess and yet it was still an event movie that was nearly immune to bad word-of-mouth until later on. While I don't think Bourne will be a billion dollar film like Pirates almost is...it will be better remembered.

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