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Max Braden: After two huge surprises, I'm not going to underestimate the third time potential. The Lord of the Rings trio increased its opening weekend with each movie, and though Harry Potter's opening weekend peaked with its fourth entry, the series doesn't seem to be suffering any saturation fatigue. Once you have two solid entries, audiences are naturally going to want to see the third. You could point to the Pirates of the Caribbean series as evidence of weakened performance after a disappointing second entry, but until I hear Twilight Saga fans complaining that New Moon was too long and boring, I'll expect the third to do just as well. I wouldn't want to speculate on the fourth until we see the third though, so I guess I'm not 100% confident on Eclipse being a blockbuster.

Tom Macy: I think this thing is burning a little too brightly right now to keep growing. How high off the cliff New Moon falls next weekend will say a lot. Is everyone on the planet seeing this? Or has everyone that was planning to seen it already? I too am leaning towards the Dead-Man's-Chest-spike (that's quite a phrase) comparison. But I don't want to undercut Twilight anymore. I think it draws its power from lowball bow office estimates - to which I'm ashamed to say I've contributed. So I predict Eclipse will be the first film to open to $200 million and Breaking Dawn to make a billion domestically in its first week. Try beating expectations now.

Brett Beach: I think that past franchises such as The Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean are good indicators and that this will stand as the high-water mark in earnings for the four (or potentially five, if what I hear about Breaking Dawn being two movies turns out to be true) films in the series. The fans were satisfied last time and a lot of new fans came with them but eventually the saturation point is reached and the films won't continue to grow - in domestic dollars at least. Worldwide, I think the figures will keep on the uptick through the end. The Harry Potter films have been remarkably consistent in their grosses which in and of itself is noteworthy but just not as exciting and sexy to talk about.

Kim Hollis: I'm thinking (God help me) that it still has room to expand even more. Cinemascores for New Moon (purely based on audience rating) are A-. My friends who have seen the film are all talking about going back again. I find it hard to imagine that their interest is going to decline in six months, though admittedly, fads that are so heavily teen-oriented can be difficult to figure.

Michael Lynderey: New Moon's the high point, I think. It's behaving like a sequel to a well-received, leggy movie (think of the follow-ups to Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek) - and in fact, it is exactly that. The third entries in such cases usually don't improve on the performance of the second films, and a critical mass point like this one is going to be very hard to maintain until June (when Eclipse opens), or to replicate.

David Mumpower: Michael has touched upon the aspect of this that I feel is most applicable. Dead Man's Chest was the high water mark for the Pirates of the Caribbean series in terms of both opening weekend and final domestic box office take. In fact, it is a full $100 million ahead of the other titles in the franchise. Sometimes, anticipation for a movie spreads like an out of control forest fire. It's a mercurial process that cannot be manipulated through something as artificial as a marketing campaign. It has to happen organically and that is what we have witnessed with New Moon. Moving forward, Summitt Entertainment has made yet another brilliant decision by releasing Eclipse next summer, thereby rushing the product before the backlash several of you expect fully occurs.

Pete Kilmer: I think if they get the third one cranked out in time it has potential to really break things wide open as far as box office goes. If, however it doesn't come out until 2011, then it will still be huge, but not nearly as big as it could have been. They need to get it cranked out as soon as possible.

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