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I'm Will Smith. Give me all your money.

Kim Hollis: Hancock opened to $103.4 million this week, including $62.6 million over the three-day portion of the weekend. What do you make of this result?

Joel Corcoran: I'm not quite sure what to make of the result other than Will Smith in a leading role just about guarantees at least $50 million on the opening weekend. This movie had weak reviews, a disjointed marketing campaign, and a mish-mash of storylines. Yet it also had a unique premise, a great cast, and the image of Hancock as the "lone superman" the world is a salient metaphor for the USA's role as a lone superpower. I may not be wholly accurate here, but with so many conflicting qualities, I'm surprised the movie has already launched itself into the top ten earners of the year.

Pete Kilmer: July 4th is Big Willie Weekend. Put him in a popcorn flick on this date and he OWNS this weekend.

Max Braden: Yawn. Twelve years ago he made $50 and $96 million on the same five-day period with Independence Day. Now, if you had Hancock and Iron Man team up in a movie to stop Zod from snatching the deed to the Garden of Eden, *then* we'd have numbers to talk about.

Reagen Sulewski: I don't know that he did necessarily own this weekend - certainly not after Wild Wild West and Men in Black II called his blockbuster chops into question. Hancock is a definite step up from those two - in quality, if nothing else - but it almost feels like this was a bit of a missed opportunity for Warner Bros. People seemed to cool on it as they got closer to release, with the idea of "Oh yeah, I guess I still want to see that, it's July 4th, right?" Give it up for conditioning, I suppose.





Jason Lee: I think everyone at Sony has to be very, very pleased. Though Hancock didn't exceed most industry expectations, consider this: 2008 is already halfway over and Sony JUST NOW has their first film to cross the $100 mark this year.

Daron Aldridge: Based upon what I have heard, which ranged from the atrocious like Scott Lumley described in his review to mere disappointment that it didn't live up to the crowd-pleasing expectations of Smith's films, I wasn't surprised at all. When you throw in the July 4th on a Friday that John Hamann has analyzed in his recap and the fair to poor word-of-mouth, Sony should be thankful for that number.

Scott Lumley: At this point, I can only assume Will Smith has made a pact with Satan. I don't understand how such uniformly terrible reviews and such an underwhelming movie result in such eye popping numbers. How is it in this summer of fantastic superhero films, it's *THIS* film that absolutely rocks its opening weekend? Go see The Incredible Hulk, people!

D. James Ruccio: I think Will Smith himself is undeniably part of the draw but I think there are several other factors that contributed to Hancock's success. I think he has aligned himself with talented people, has a keen eye for picking good projects and has the benefit of opening his blockbuster films on the July 4th Weekend. I think he's tremendously talented, with more acting range than people still give him credit for and has a persona that is uncommonly likable for movie stars, but I don't think people necessarily hear about his new project and rush out to see it because he's in it.

Brandon Scott: Will Smith is the biggest star in America, hands down. While some pundits had thought Hancock might fly towards the $150 million mark over the five-day stretch initially, there is no way to be disappointed by this result. As the third superhero flick already of the summer season, it still managed to avoid public burnout. Also, with the holiday falling on a Friday, many film-goers had other things, well, going on. Like a freight train to Hancock's body, a triple digit result over this period is very solid.

David Mumpower: I am a lot more positive about this result than the many of the rest of you seem to be. Given how dark the tone has been in the Hancock trailers, I think crossing $100 million in five days is pretty damned impressive. This was a very tricky sell for Sony, but the marketing team came through.

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