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Brett Beach: Just to put the film's opening in (positive) perspective: at least it opened better than Meet Dave, A Good Year, and In the Valley of Elah. What went wrong? 1) This didn't get marketed well or strongly, as far as I can tell. 2) Russell Crowe is not a consistent or reliable box office draw or all that beloved. He is a gifted character actor in the body of a leading man who has had some anomalous financial successes that are not all that attributable to his presence. (To circle back and tangent to Bruce's comment on Master and Commander, I think he's half right. I loved that film, didn't think it suffered from any issues of pacing and should have won Best Picture the year it was nominated.) With the same premise starring Denzel, Bruce, or even the Liam Neeson of 2009-2010, this would have opened anywhere from bigger to much much bigger.

Final analysis: If this had opened any time outside of a holiday period, I would peg this as DOA ($15-20 million final domestic). With Thanksgiving to goose up grosses a little, I think this has a chance, in tandem with strong word-of-mouth, to get close to making its budget back.

David Mumpower: I think you guys are dancing away from the core of the issue here. The Next Three Days is on the shortlist for most ridiculous premise of the 2000s. Apparently, a wife being framed for murder isn't enough of a stretch. The producers of this film have to throw in a jail break wherein a guy who has never planned a crime before is suddenly John "The Cat" Robie. I was more horrified by this trailer than I was by the eyeball scene in Hostel. This movie has like three years worth of soap opera plots loosely thrown together like paint splatter.

Matthew Huntley: David, yes, the premise does look ridiculous, but I think any movie can successfully be about anything. It's how it's about it that counts, and judging only by this movie's trailer, I think how The Next Three Days was about its premise did, indeed, make it look ridiculous. You're right, it was an awful trailer and it gave away practically everything except what is sure to be the foregone ending: when the wife admits she either did or did not commit the crime (I'm guessing she did, and that's the big twist at the end, making her escape all for not). I speculate another reason the movie failed was because of its title. I'd like to think audiences aren't so superficial that they'll judge a movie by its title, but we all know that's not the case, and The Next Three Days just sounds lame. Maybe the movie will prove us wrong when/if we see it.

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