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Jason Lee: I think a lot of credit here has to go to the marketing team at Universal. They managed to cherry-pick key sequences to mash together some pretty-darn-cool-looking special effects shots. If you weren't more familiar with this project, you have might actually bought a ticket with the thought that you were about to see a pretty good movie.

Pete Kilmer: Yeah, it's pretty solid. For a picture that the director walked away from they have to be pleased with this.

We're just waiting for the next Blart

Kim Hollis: We've seen four debuts over $30 million in the last two weeks. Do you see this as a fluke or do you think February is going to start experiencing the same success that January has had over the last couple years?

Josh Spiegel: It's only a fluke if studios don't pick up on the idea that people will actually see movies all year if the products look interesting, good or bad reviews notwithstanding. Obviously, this February is more similar to last year's January; again, it's all about marketing products. People were interested in seeing a romantic comedy at the most romantic time of year, or getting scared, or watching kids tussle with Greek gods. If studios were filled with smart people, they'd realize that the early months of the year don't have to be a dead zone.

Michael Lynderey: January really only had one mega-month, and that was in the freakazoid year of 2009 (it's true that January '08 had some big titles, too, but they were about on par with Jan. '05 and '01-'02). While this February has had some steep openings so far, that may say more about frontloading than anything else - the only one of the four big openers I see making $100 million right now is Valentine's Day. Even if there are more three-digit earners (Percy Jackson is hard to call), that wouldn't necessarily be too far removed from some previous Februarys - there's the famous '91 edition with The Silence of the Lambs ($130 million) and Sleeping with the Enemy ($101 million), as well as other good years like 2003, 2005, and 2007. Could February gradually become a definitively bigger month? It's possible, but we'll have to wait and see. February '09 didn't have a single $100 million earner, so there's not a strong trend yet.





Reagen Sulewski: You're never going to see a studio risk a true top flight "summer" film in this period: No Transformer 3s or Superman: Rebooted: This Time It'll Be Good, We Mean It! Look We Got Chris Nolan! and nor should they, as those summer weekday box office figures can add about 10% or more to a final total. But there's also value in being a big fish in a small pond. It's a lot easier to stand out in this time and get eyes on your films. The first battle in opening a film is getting people to know you exist.

Tom Macy: I think that this tentpole films all the time trend is – amazingly - still expanding. With superheroes and ‘80s action figures soaking up all the obvious dates, summer and the holidays, second tier films - with solid built-in audiences of their own - are starting to create their own second tier slots. Look at what happened to March after Ice Age: 2 and 300. After this weekend, I expect President's say to be a slot studios fight over just like they fought over the first weekend in May after Spider-Man in 2002. As to why this is happening? It's kind of a weird chicken or the egg type of phenomenon. Are studios convincing people they want to see these movies at this time of the year? Or are audiences influencing the studios? I don't know, but I feel like it has something to do with Tom Cruise.

Jason Lee: This whole thing is cyclical. I don't think anyone is arguing that studios dial January back simply because we didn't have a Taken or a Paul Blart this year . . . I think this February is just an exceptionally strong moviegoing month. Of course, if James Cameron decides to open his new film, "President's Day Weekend," next year in February, then it's a whole different discussion.

Pete Kilmer: I do. I think the studios will stake out the week before and during V-day for romance movies. The first weekend and last weekend we'll see some horror related and lower level action movies.

Kim Hollis: What we're learning is that a movie can break out on almost any weekend if it appeals to the right target audience and is marketed well or buzzed about. There are a couple of weekends that remain black holes, but I imagine that at some point over the next few years we'll even see something surprising happen there.

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