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Bruce Hall: I am just going to throw this out there. We're talking about a franchise that is based mainly on discovering love and friendship through the magic of urban interpretive dance. This brand has always existed despite itself. The first film opened to about $21 million, the second roughly $19 million. At this point you'd think even the most devout fans would be wise to the obvious gimmick of releasing the third installment in 3D, and it seems perhaps they were, as even with the inflated ticket price we still saw a surprisingly sharp drop off. Does this mean the end of the franchise? I am not ready to put a fork in the Step Up Universe, because there's no reason to believe version 3.0-D will not eventually pay for itself. Plus, if American Pie and Bring it On can continue to find life after death in the straight to video market, there's no reason to believe we won't see a Step Up 4ever (dibs on that title).

Brett Beach: Two weeks in a row, two underwhelming openings for 3-D releases. Some have questioned the need for this to be in 3-D and to be fair, even I asked that question. But the trailer's utter ridiculousness won me over with its flash and color and energy (and I am not in the age range or gender of the target audience. Nor have I seen the first two.) I was all but ready to proclaim the Step Up franchise healthy and wealthy but it looks like they (and I) got served. This is honestly a lot less than I imagined. I was thinking that it would wind up exceeding most tracking reports and put up around $25 million. The 3-D will help cushion the blow of falls for at least a couple of weeks but there's no way this makes it past $50 million. Still, that will cover the budget and then some and since the series seems to have (relative) success overseas, it'll be a win for Disney/Touchstone.

Matthew Huntley: Bruce, great title for Step Up 4. Although, no offense, I'm hoping it never gets made, and if Step Up 3D's numbers are any indication, it won't.

Like many people on this board, I was expecting higher numbers for this sequel, mainly because of the 3D surcharges, but I guess I overestimated audiences falling for it a third time just because of the added dimension. This time around, it seems the dance sequences weren't enough to look beyond the forced plot and lousy acting.

Here's my question: Because the dance sequences are so good (and they are), why not just have the movie be only about the dance sequences? That is, why not jut make it a straight-up dance movie - more of a documentary-style with interviews that provide interesting tidbits about dancing and how hard it is? It can still be presented in 3D but there's no need for a formulaic screenplay or artificial drama. It would probably cost less to produce. Because viewers only want to see the dancing anyway, why not give them what they pay for?

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