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David Mumpower: I generally don't believe in the William Goldman maxim that nobody knows anything. At times like this, I re-evaluate this opinion as the difference between G.I. Joe and The A-Team escapes me. I guess the exact moment where The A-Team was in trouble was when I thought the first trailer had the perfect touch of subtlety. Apparently, nobody wanted that and when they tried to deliver a commercial that was the opposite of subtle, it was too late and smacked of desperation. If you had told me six weeks ago that The A-Team and The Karate Kid would combine for about $80 million in box office, I would have presumed 75% of that came from The A-Team. Instead, it's an even bigger bomb than Robin Hood.

So, is it time for a Back to the Future reboot yet? (Call me, Universal Studios. That was totally my idea.

Kim Hollis: Overall, do you consider this weekend a net win, a net loss or a virtual draw for franchise remakes?





Josh Spiegel: I'll say a net win, though not a huge net win. Sony is obviously thrilled at the weekend, and Fox isn't, but I never expected either film to do more than $30 million, so for one to nearly double that number and the other to come close is a good thing. I don't know that the summer (which isn't even half over, in terms of the movie season) is going to be completely saved with this weekend and the presumably huge weekend Toy Story 3 will have, but it's a start.

Matthew Huntley: Definitely a net win, because I'm sure the talk of the industry on Monday morning is going to be how huge The Karate Kid opened and not how average The A-Team opened. As usual, I feel Hollywood studios are going to act hastily and quickly open up their catalogs to pick and choose which franchises to remake, based only on Karate Kid's numbers, even though they should also consider A-Team's. This means we'll probably see remakes of No Retreat, No Surrender; possibly The Goonies (I know, how dare they! But most of us probably thought it was blasphemous to remake The Karate Kid and look what happened); Adventures in Babysitting; and Red Dawn (oops, this one is already coming out). What the studios will consider, though, is how much money they want to pour into these remakes. They can either have a low negative cost like Karate Kid ($40 million budget), which pays off in a big way, or a high one like A-Team ($110 million - see Kim's second post of the day). They'll probably test the waters first, but I think it's no question more franchise remakes are on the way.

Reagen Sulewski: Hey, a Ferris Bueller remake is already in the works. That can't get a lot worse than that. But to reiterate what's been said, The Karate Kid is notable because it's the first summer film that's exceeded expectations. That's important to change the narrative of what's been going on these past six weeks. The fact that The A-Team failed to do any damage will be lost in the success of The Karate Kid.

Michael Lynderey: This is a big win for reboots and remakes, not so much for TV show adaptations. And those are two different birds, especially since the reboots tackle franchises that have already proven themselves on the big screen (something that The A-Team did not). That Footloose remake that's been bubbling around? Expect a star announced by the end of June. Studios are going to start fast-tracking every single reboot we've ever dreaded. The other winner? Jaden Smith. The star vehicle announcements for that fella are going to start rolling in these next few weeks. There's been a dearth of breakout stars so far this summer (especially compared to last year), and Smith's going to benefit from that.

Jason Lee: With the wild and unforeseen success of The Karate Kid and the good-enough performance of The A-Team, I think the door is wide open for more remakes and reboots in the future. That said, we've had enough examples this year of remakes/reboots/reimaginings from other mediums that haven't worked (Marmaduke, Prince of Persia, Macgruber, etc.) so it's not all lollipops and sunshine.

Kim Hollis: I would say this is certainly a net win. When you have a nice surprise like The Karate Kid (happening to one of movie's truly good guys in Jackie Chan), that becomes the story far more than any disappointment that came with The A-Team. We're going to continue to see remakes/reboots/re-imaginings because they're easy to greenlight and because enough of them make money that the studios keep being encouraged in that direction.

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