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Say hello to your mother.

Kim Hollis: Max Payne, the latest poorly reviewed video game adaptation, earned $18 million this weekend. Given the title's moderately modest budget of $35 million, is this an acceptable result?

David Mumpower: This falls on the low end of what the three Resident Evil films did on opening weekend ($17.7 million, $23.0 million and $23.7 million), but it's better than the most recent fall videogame adaptation, Hit Man. That title started with only $13.2 million. Given the fact that Max Payne is a relatively obscure property and the fact that the reviews are Boll-esque, I think this is a success. The people who cut the white-hot trailers deserve a raise for stealing money out of customers' pockets, but that's how this game works.

Tim Briody: For the budget, it's totally a success. I had completely forgotten that Max Payne the video game existed until the release of the movie, so to most people it's just a "everything must blow up" movie and this is an acceptable opening.

Brandon Scott: Acceptable, yes. However, I can't help but think that Marky Mark is not that beloved by film fans. Given the time of year, yeah, it's a good enough number but based on the star, the trailers, and the fact that I know of the video game, I was hoping for more. I like Wahlberg as an actor but it appears that he has peaked as a box office draw. Should he bring back the Funky Bunch to boost his credibility? One wonders...





Reagen Sulewski: I was expecting a lot more out of this based on the trailer, which as mentioned, was dazzling. It feels like they should have tried a little harder to push it as the next Sin City, or something like that.

Pete Kilmer: The trailers were fantastic and really nailed the essence of the games. Too bad the movie itself didn't. I think it's a more than acceptable take for box office.

Kim Hollis: I agree that the trailer had me geared up for this movie to do a little bit better than it did. I'm talking about maybe mid-$20 millions, though, so it's not significantly lower than what I was thinking. For a video game adaptation, I have to believe this is a pretty good result, particularly when your star is coming off something as terrible as The Happening.

Jason Lee: Personally, I thought that this was a very, very solid opening weekend of Max Payne. The original video game isn't all that well known compared to the Resident Evil / Lara Croft / Silent Hill / Pokemon games that were also adapted into films. You also have a B-level actor that is (as of yet) incapable of opening a movie on his own. $18 million, to me, smells of success.

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