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Shalimar Sahota: Keeping your big secret from your audience in the hope that they'll pay for a ticket is something Paramount knows how to do pretty well. Cloverfield opened to $46.1 million and Paranormal Activity 2 opened to $40.6 million. I'd say that applying the same principle for Super 8 has worked, but I'm also kinda leaning towards Matthew's theory. Rather than being sandwiched between two comic book adaptations in the summer, maybe releasing the film later could have helped, though I feel that the difference would have been small. Overall, I think the marketing has been great in building up curiosity.

Edwin Davies: I'm in complete agreement with Brett that the marketing people did just about the best job that could with the film that they had to work with. Being a filthy Limey, I won't get to see the film for another two months (Why? I don't know. Maybe Abrams is still really pissed about the War of 1812 and thinks we should be chastened for it.) but based on what I have read and the ads that I have seen, Super 8 isn't the sort of film that could be easily sold without resorting to just showing everything in the trailer, which would then ruin the mystery that seems to be central to the movie. Even Inception, a film that relied upon mystery about its central concept to drive interest, had plenty of spectacle in its trailer to make up for the fact that no one really knew what it was going to be about until right before the film opened, something which the more modest Super 8 can't really fall back on. It's risky hoping that mystery and the promise of something cool, rather than outright showing them something cool, will be enough to bring people in, but I think it'll pay off handsomely in the case of Super 8.

Reagen Sulewski: First impressions matter, as the classic example of Hulk shows us. Super 8's Super Bowl teaser was a headscratcher, and put them off on the wrong foot to ever be a gigantic opening film. A couple of stars here or there in supporting roles might have made a big difference as well.

David Mumpower: I'm clearly in the minority on this, as I am diametrically opposed to the idea that building the mystery of the box was good marketing. To the contrary, I believe strongly that Super 8 would have done better if it had shown what that was and used it as a building block. Some consumers may have been disappointed by the movie itself based on that marketing, but it's such a well intended story that I think they would have been won over in the end. Cloverfield opened huge because it had that killer bit with the Statue of Liberty's concrete head decapitated and flying at the citizens of New York. Super 8 went an entirely different direction with its subtlety and subtlety almost never leads to best case scenario opening weekend results. We may not collectively enjoy that thought process, but it gets proven over and over again.

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