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Matthew Huntley: Because Jackie Chan doesn't seem as popular with younger audiences as, say, Vin Diesel or Dwayne Johnson. Outside of the Rush Hour franchise, do kids really know who he Jackie Chan is? Another reason for the soft opening is that it's only been five years since THE PACIFIER, which is more or less the same movie, but that had Disney's marketing machine behind it. Lionsgate doesn't exactly scream family entertainment like the Mouse House. Plus, Alvin and the Chipmunks is still going strong, and talking chipmunks are more entertaining for kids than a Chinese babysitter.

Michael Lynderey: Jackie Chan hasn't had many stateside hits these last five years, save for Rush Hour 3 (which took in an almost-token $100 million+) and The Forbidden Kingdom. That last one already had a lot of very PG elements to it, so Chan plugging himself into an outright kids' movie must have seemed like the next logical step. But he isn't really a big-time kids movie lead, at least not on the level of The Rock, and the reviews just about helped kill it off (plus, as I always say, it doesn't hurt to have a lot of cute furry animals on your kids movie's poster, something this one distinctly lacked). That said, I think Spy Next Door will just about pull itself to $30 million or so in a couple of weekends, and really, isn't anything more than that asking too much for this type of movie?

Reagen Sulewski: Speaking as a Chan fan, I've been burned by one-too-many of his crappy comedy films (that one being The Tuxedo) to even touch this with a ten-foot-pole. Chan without the abilities he had during his 30 and 40s = no sale for me, which basically means no more of his new films ever again. Kind of sad, really.

David Mumpower: I'm not ready to turn my back on Jackie Chan forever like some of you, but I have to say that the disloyalty toward him is well deserved. In the timeframe since Rush Hour 2, his track record is The Tuxedo, Shanghai Knights, The Medallion, Around the World in 80 Days, Rush Hour 3 and The Forbidden Kingdom (plus a voice role in a wonderful movie, Kung Fu Panda). From my perspective, that's The Forbidden Kingdom, a B+ movie, and five films that all fall in the D/F range. For all the mocking I do of Uwe Boll and Paul Walker, their resumes can't be much worse than that. If you're not living in fear of that Karate Kid re-make, you're just not paying attention.

It's hobbit time!

Kim Hollis: The Lovely Bones platformed into 2,463 venues this weekend, earning $17.1 million. Which do you think better defines the success of the project, the lackluster reviews and word-of-mouth or the solid wide-release debut?

Josh Spiegel: Obviously, the wide release is a big success. The reviews haven't pushed people away, partly because the book was so popular, and partly because Peter Jackson's attached. Granted, the movie (to me, at least) is a big mess, but by advertising the movie as a serial-killer thriller plus a story about a dad dealing with losing his daughter, Paramount may have gotten different, and more potentially lucrative, crowds. Congratulations to Paramount for getting a lot more money out of this than expected.

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