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Baby mamas and daddies are in style!

Kim Hollis: Juno expanded into 304 venues after screening in 40 last weekend. The result was a surprising top 10 finish with $3.4 million. How much (if any) do you believe this project was aided by the news of Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy? Are you surprised by how well it is doing at the box office?

Tim Briody: As hilarious as that would be, I think it's more the surprise awards attention is what has let it break out so much. It also topped Roger Ebert's list of the year's best films, and that certainly counts for something.

Joel Corcoran: I'll jump on Tim's bandwagon. I think Juno is benefiting from the "Little Miss Sunshine effect" a lot more than the "Jamie Lynn Spears" effect. The movie is getting great word-of-mouth and critical acclaim, it's benefiting from a very well done marketing campaign that brings out some bitingly hip and humorous aspects, and it has Ellen Page. I'm impressed, and I'm a little bit surprised, not so much at how well it's doing, but how quickly it's breaking out into the open.

Kim Hollis: It's a buzz film that deserves the praise it is receiving. I love success stories like these.

David Mumpower: I am not sure if there was any tangible box office impact from the Spears story although the free advertising is always nice. At the end of the day, what is carrying Juno is that it is exactly the type of movie consumers want to watch right now. I've seen no less than three studio execs state recently how hard it is to anticipate 18 months out what a customer will want at that later date. This has been used as an apology for the gross miscalculation on the war movies. Juno is the flip side of that coin. It is charming, low-key, and well intended. It is striking the perfect chord to break out, and I am starting to believe it winds up with $50+ million.

Seriously, people. They eat poop. What are you thinking?

Kim Hollis: I Am Legend fell 56% to $34.2 million this weekend while Alvin and the Chipmunks fell only 35% to $29.0 million. The Will Smith film has current box office of $137.5 million while the CGI-lowest common denominator title sits at $84.9 million. Relative to expectations, is it fair to say that Alvin and the Chipmunks is the more surprising/better performer? Why or why not?

Pete Kilmer: Alvin's performance has to be because of holiday season, kids are out of school and parents need a family movie for the real little ones to take to.

Joel Corcoran: Just when I think I have people figured out, something like this happens. I really can't understand why Alvin and the Chipmunks lasted even a week. I really want to know why and how all these people reached the decision to spend their hard-earned money on this dreck. I mean, for God's sakes, go rent a season's worth of My Name is Earl! You'll get a lot more comedic value for your money in the first 15 minutes of any episode of that TV show than you will in this entire movie!. Or if you want to go see a family film, Bee Movie is still hanging around in second-run theaters - go see that! Heck, The Simpsons Movie just came out on DVD. You can buy that move for the price of three movie tickets to see Alvin and the Chipmunks.

All ranting aside, and speaking purely in terms of brutal economics, I am (grudgingly) forced to admit that Alvin and the Chipmunks is definitely the more surprising performer and the better performer compared to I am Legend. I'd rather sit through a three-hour lecture on post-modernism and critical theory as applied to film (or listen to David try to argue that the SEC is the best conference in college football) than say anything good about the movie, but...there...I said it...

Max Braden: The people paying to see Alvin must be the grandkids of Richard Nixon's silent majority, because the existence of a sustainable market for the movie still baffles me.

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