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David Mumpower: I will speak as one of the people who thought the trailer for Skyline made it look interesting. I was seriously considering going to see this right up until the reviews starting pouring in. These are the "villagers with torches and pitchforks" type of reviews. I mean, we might owe Mansquito and Sharktopus an apology for equating them to Skyline in terms of quality. And the ending of this does sound like one that will live in infamy for an indefinite period in the realm of pop culture. All things considered, I'm not sure where this leaves me in terms of its opening weekend performance. On the other hand, they disguised a cinematic abomination well enough to get it into double digits. On the other hand, it's going to have a train wreck of a final box office multiplier. Without knowing the specific marketing costs, my inclination is to think that this is a draw trending toward a loss as Brett had indicated. If the negative cost winds up at $25 million or less, however, I'd call it a win since Skyline will be permanently ensconced on SyFy's schedule.

What's the frequency, Kenneth? What's it all about, Alfie? What's the story...

Kim Hollis: Morning Glory opened to $11.8 million over five days, including $9.2 million over the weekend. How should Paramount feel about this result?

Josh Spiegel: Am I the only one who thinks it's odd when movies are released on a Wednesday when it's not a holiday weekend? This happened with Knight and Day over the summer, and it's happened again with Morning Glory. Knight and Day, at least, is an action comedy, so a mid-summer release makes sense, but you can't tell me Paramount expected a ton of adults and folks on dates to spend their Veterans' Day at the movies. I've heard mixed to positive reviews for the film, but I think Paramount screwed the pooch big time by not just opening it on Friday. Also, maybe I watch the wrong talk shows, but when notoriously gruff guest Harrison Ford is the most notable actor doing appearances for the movie, it's not a good sign.





Bruce Hall: Not only that, but Harrison Ford couldn't have looked less interested in this project as he promoted it. Part of that is just him, plus the fact that at this point in his career he can essentially phone in six weeks of work a year and call it good. And that's okay; I suppose he's earned that.

While I guess it is fair to make the argument that Paramount might have forgone the mid week opening on this one, I think this may have been a no-win situation for the studio. This is a film with rather lukewarm appeal to begin with. Throw in a seemingly scattershot demographic, and the fact that you're opening between a bigger than expected family friendly animated film, and some sort of special effects extravaganza called "Larry Potter", opening next week.

Anybody's guess what that one's about.

So, if someone gives you 60 seconds in a room with a pile of money and two other people twice your size, you just grab what you can get and consider yourself lucky. Of course in this case, with its $40 million price tag, "lucky" might be a subjective term.

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