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Who names a horse Joey, anyway?

Kim Hollis: War Horse, a Steven Spielberg film advertised as "perfect for the holidays," fell 40% to $8.7 million. Its running total is $58.6 million. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: I think that War Horse is the sort of film that was always going to struggle outside of the holidays since it aims at a fairly broad audience, even if parts of it are probably too intense for very young children, and had its best days when people had enough free times to see it in addition to all the other films that they wanted to see. It never struck me as a first choice film for people, but one that people got around to once the reviews and word-of-mouth got out. Now that the adults are going back to work and the kids are back in school, they'll have to be more selective about their film choices, and a two and a half hour film about the experiences of a horse during World War One, no matter how good it is (I liked it a great deal, despite the fact it is based around a really dumb idea), is not the immediate first choice for many people.

Bruce Hall: Am I going to hell if I say this story struck me as sort of a four legged Forrest Gump? That said, Spielberg's name probably earned the film considerable cachet with those who have chosen to see it, and it really is the kind of film Hollywood's favorite son was born to make. I just think that the phrase "perfect for the holidays" does not, in most minds, include a period piece set against the backdrop of what that was once called "The War to End All Wars." However, War Horse will make its money back, and will no doubt retire to greener pastures in the highly lucrative world of Disney Home Video.

All's well that ends well. Just like a Spielberg movie.

Max Braden: Bruce sees this as Forrest Gump, I see it as a followup to Bambi or Old Yeller; I'm just thinking you can't run across a WWI battlefield so many times without stepping on a land mine, so I wouldn't necessarily want to bring some young guests, and it looks too sentimental for me to want to go see it on my own. On face value I'd expect a Spielberg holiday film to make a lot more than War Horse has, but Spielberg's last December entry - Munich - didn't make this much over its entire run.

Brett Beach: Although I am intrigued by the idea (not mine) that War Horse is actually similar to A.I. in that it's another Spielberg tale about the messiness and self-destructiveness of the human race as viewed through a non-human protagonist, I still have little to no interest in seeing it, especially with dead horsies everywhere. It looked early on as if War Horse might pull an Ali and implode after a strong first two days, but it continues to have hefty weekends. Continued Oscar talk and reasonably positive buzz could keep this alive through February and maybe eke its way to $100 million.

Reagen Sulewski: I think this is a pretty good establishment for the baseline of what Stephen Spielberg's name is worth just on its own, as I can't see a world in which this film gets the time of day if it isn't from a world-beating director like Spielberg (Michael Bay's War Horse would also have been interesting if markedly different in tone. Possibly involving aliens and robots). I mean, it's a film concept that people were mocking from day one. And yet here we are, with a moderately respectable take.

David Mumpower: Reagen is exactly right about this. I know that when War Horse's first daily tally was released, I did a doubletake and re-read to make sure I was seeing the number correctly. That $7.5 million first day total proved to be about 13% of its box office to date but that doesn't make it any less impressive. War Horse is a pricey production at $70 million, but it seems likely to make a lot of money once global revenue is included.

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