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Push the shiny red panic button!

Kim Hollis: This was the least successful Memorial Day box office campaign in roughly a decade, coming on the heels of back-to-back weekends of box office disappointment. Are you starting to worry that we're going to see a similarly disappointing summer along the lines of what we had in 2005?

Reagen Sulewski: This summer is a weird case where it appears to be backloaded. June looks almost as dire as May, with just Toy Story 3 and Knight and Day offering promise (and maaaybe A-Team), but July is looking a lot better in terms of quality and/or box office. The third Twilight film is going to be another inexplicable hit, and there's Inception, Salt and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (probably just crazy enough for Nic Cage to turn it into a hit). Only Toy Story 3 and Twilight look to have a shot at $300 million though, and if that's what you're looking for in terms of a summer season, then yeah, you're probably going to consider this one a disappointment. I don't see a The Hangover on the horizon.

Kim Hollis: Other than Toy Story 3 and the next Twilight film, I'm just not seeing much that looks like guaranteed box office money. Even Inception is odd-looking enough to be iffy (though I can't wait). I'm sure there will be something to come up and surprise us, but I do think that May has pretty much set the tone we can expect for the entire season.






Josh Spiegel: Inception may be an odd one, Kim, but the one thing I can say for it is that I've starting seeing ads for it, and the movie's just under two months away. Warner Bros. is being smart by inundating every NBA playoff game with ads, as well as shows like Lost and Glee. I still have hopes for that film and Toy Story 3 to not only be amazing, but to dominate the box office. They should help the business of the second half of the summer pick up a lot.

Tim Briody: This is a disappointing May for sure, but it's been a weird year. We had a $300 million film in March and How to Train Your Dragon is still solidly in third place on the year. It's hindsight for sure, but all this stuff was mostly iffy in the quality department and people are clearly being a little more savvy with their entertainment dollars in this economy. Two of the surest things ever are just around the corner though, in Toy Story 3 and (sigh) Eclipse.

Daron Aldridge: I think that we could very well end up with Alice in Wonderland securely in the top three 2010 releases come Labor Day. Aside from the aforementioned Toy Story 3 (which is well-positioned to surpass Finding Nemo's $339 million gross) and Iron Man 2 (which is at $280 million now), I will be surprised to see anything else crest the $300 million mark, including Eclipse. I believe the latest upcoming Twilight sequel would need to win over many new fans to the series or benefit from even more repeat viewings to surpass New Moon's amazing $296 million haul from last year. That audience is there and will be there for every film, similar to it looking like Tony Stark has his fanbase locked in for grosses between $300 and $330 million and not much beyond that. So in that regard, yes, Kim, this might be eerily similar to summer of '05 with many strong performers but nary a $400 million behemoth in the bunch.

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