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Bruce Hall: I'll go with The Hangover. I was not expecting those kinds of numbers. Just mind boggling. But I'm apparently the only person in America who still thinks Wedding Crashers is the funniest R-rated comedy of the last ten years, so what do I know?

Reagen Sulewski: Personally, I think the Hangover story is a bit overrated, given how quickly it's going to die on the vine and how far short it's going to fall from the first film. Opening weekends are flashy and fun, but final total matters.

But the real story is about how the various franchises were managed mis- or otherwise in May. Studios have been shown that you have to come in with ideas and quality (at least perceived quality), and "hey, we're here" doesn't cut it after film #2.

Edwin Davies: Bridesmaids is the one that stands out for me purely by dint of being a genuine and very pleasant surprise. The under/over performance of Pirates and The Hangover aren't that surprising given the directions of those franchises, whereas Bridesmaids not only being a hit but being a pretty terrific comedy was something I wasn't expecting.

Kim Hollis: Bridesmaids is my answer as well, perhaps because it's all I've heard my female friends talk about with regard to movies. They may as well not exist in a world with Pirates 4, Hangover II or Kung Fu Panda 2. The only movie on their radar has been Bridesmaids. The fact that it's well on its way to possibly $150 million has to be considered one of the more pleasant surprises so far this year - and speaks to the fact that there is a truly underserved demographic out there in women and that if some studio exec ever figures out the magic answer to reaching them consistently, there is a *lot* of money to be made.

David Mumpower: I also have the opening weekend of The Hangover II on my short list. While its final box office tally may not surpass the original, those first few days were jaw dropping. While I like Bridesmaids as a story, it's not a big enough performer to qualify as the talk of May. For me, what is noteworthy about the period is the meta aspect. After early 2011 box office was an absolute disaster with regards to domestic box office, we had that sudden change with Fast Five (an April title, I realize) then Thor and finally The Hangover II. After a shaky start to the year, we unexpectedly had business as usual for the start of summer. That's a relief to the studios.

Of course, the ancillary issue here is that studios have made the decision to prioritize known properties, whether those are sequels or adaptations from other media. The scattershot reception exemplifies the fact that with movie production costs spiraling out of control, even playing it safe isn't very safe right now. If international revenue weren't spiking, people would be going broke right now. That's something we will follow carefully during the summer box office campaign.

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