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Hulk...can't hold on...slipping...

Kim Hollis: We know that the 2003 Hulk was destroyed by a drop in excess of 70% in its second weekend and continued to fall sharply in the weeks that followed. Do you think The Incredible Hulk will follow a similar trajectory or will it have a stronger hold?

Pete Kilmer: I'm hoping that with the positive word-of-mouth that this movie has the potential to do far better than the first version.

Shane Jenkins: With next week's comedic duo of Love Guru and Get Smart opening, The Incredible Hulk gets a rare-for-summer second weekend without any new direct action competition. It almost can't have a drop-off like Ang Lee's Hulk, and I think it will have a decent hold, at least for the genre. Personally, I'd take the Lee version over this one any day, but I seem to be in the minority with that opinion. Audiences and critics seem to like it, and that will definitely be a help over the next few weeks.

Tim Briody: Considering The Incredible Hulk is by almost all accounts better than Hulk, the drop could still be large, but absolutely no way is that 70% feat duplicated.

Max Braden: 70% is a huge plummet even by summer tent-pole standards, and I don't think The Incredible Hulk will suffer that much. But I do think that The Incredible Hulk's total gross will be less than two-and-a-half times its opening weekend number.

Reagen Sulewski: I wouldn't count on "legs" by the typical objective standard, but it's got enough good will spreading for it that I don't think anyone at Marvel or Universal is worried about it.

Kim Hollis: I'm sure The Incredible Hulk is still looking at a 50% plus drop, but nothing approaching that 70% number. Its overall weekend multiplier is a little concerning for long-term prospects, though. There was still a pretty big fanboy rush.

David Mumpower: In evaluating this question, what I read it as asking is whether the film will have better legs than The Hulk. Given that a full 47% of the Ang Lee title's box office was earned on opening weekend, that's an argument better made with Sex and the City. And even that movie should avoid such a textbook example of front-loading. With regards to The Incredible Hulk, it's (marginally) fresh at Rotten Tomatoes and it received an A- Cinemascore. Even allowing for the fact that most comic book movies are front-loaded due to fanboy rush, The Incredible Hulk should avoid the pitfalls of its predecessor.

How did this Happen?

Kim Hollis: The Happening opened 50% higher than expected, bringing in $30.5 million. What is the explanation for this result, particularly given how few people seem to actually like the film?

Dan Krovich: All I know is that if I have a crappy movie, I want Fox to release it. They seem to be able to do a very good job at getting decent returns from films of questionable quality. I also think whoever decided to push the R-rating angle deserves a raise. There's barely enough in there to warrant an R, and I wouldn't be surprised if they recut to get the R.

Tim Briody: Although every single person in the world hated The Lady in the Water, there were enough fond memories of M. Night Shyamalan's previous films that The Happening came off intriguing enough in trailers to take a chance on. Viewing extended clips showed that the film was indeed laughable, but the small doses were just enough to go "hey, remember how awesome The Sixth Sense was?"

Max Braden: The masochists who see movies they already expect to be bad can't be enough to significantly alter the box office. It comes down to the universal desire to know the answer to what is unknown, especially when the mystery preys on fear. Shyamalan has smartly taken advantage of this throughout his movies. People probably went to find out what exactly kills the characters. It's how Cloverfield drew audiences in, and how J.J. Abrams kept people tuning into Lost.

Kim Hollis: I honestly have no clue how this movie did as well as it did. There is absolutely nothing in the commercials that makes me think, "Oh, that looks intriguing." Combine that with the bad acting and Shyamalan's hubris-filled commentary that seemed unavoidable - it was all over television and the Internet - and The Happening had all the makings of a disaster. I'm just baffled by the behavior of people who went to see this one (and I mean people who really went to see it because they thought it looked good, not people like Dan who saw it for its train-wreck qualities).

David Mumpower: The marketing campaign took a page out of the Unbreakable playbook by emphasizing the mystery of The Happening. This was also done with best results in Signs, but it's been the modus operandi for all of M. Night Shyamalan's post-The Sixth Sense releases. The key with The Happening is that a couple of the key visuals - people falling off the roof and people hanging from nooses - were memorable enough to overcome viewers' memories of Lady in the Water. Of course, the other thing that helped in that regard is only $42.3 million worth of ticket sales went to that title, meaning a lot of people might have missed the memo regarding what an atrocity it was. This was unfortunate for them as the D Cinemascore for The Happening indicates as much dissatisfaction with a movie as consumers are capable of having. Seriously, that's Uwe Boll territory.

Jim Van Nest: If Shane can come out and admit that he liked Ang Lee's Hulk more than the new Hulk, I guess I can come out and admit that I've liked or loved all of Night's flicks. Signs was the low point for me. I rank The Village and Lady in the Water as #2 and 3 behind Unbreakable.

There. I said it.

That being said...I'm shocked at the cash The Happening raked in. Lady in the Water was so universally panned, I figured I might be the only one in the theater for The Happening and as it turned out, I was on vacation and didn't get to the theater at all. The way the reviews are coming in, I'd expect it to die a quick death and I fully expect The Last Airbender to hardly mention his name.

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