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Kim Hollis: A Good Day to Die Hard earned $24.8 million over three days and $33.1 million from Thursday through Sunday. What do you think of this result?

Brett Ballard-Beach: To be noted upfront: I could not force my wife and I to spend $20 on this after hearing the early reviews so I will be waiting for the cheap seats in April. Performance: It's somewhere between disappointing and terrible, but may be a counted as a victory for wholly unnecessary sequels that are critically savaged and seem intent on frittering away 25 years of (mostly) goodwill. Some may point to the hiring of John Moore as a slap in the face to the fanbase (although I felt that way in advance about Wiseman and Live Free or Die Hard, and I stand corrected as that film was a hoot and a good way to bring the character into the 2000s) so I am laying the blame at the feet of Skip Woods. Skip Woods is the James V. Hart of the '00s and his continued employment astounds me. And yes, I acknowledge that this was "made for the foreign markets" but ya know what? Everything is nowadays. It's a lame excuse. Find a new one.

Bruce Willis Hall: Like the similarly moribund Indiana Jones franchise, the original is the best and I accept the existence of the others only because I can't avoid them forever. That said, I think it's very exciting that in its first week of release, Die Hard 5 just managed to squeak past a film that almost everyone saw but almost no one actually liked, and is in its second frame to boot. I'm not surprised, and I doubt anyone at Fox is either, otherwise they would have found a way to release this in June.

Shalimar Sahota: The reviews seem to be unanimous in their hatred here, which is what I feel stopped this from topping the previous film. That it's earned this much already really comes down to the benefit of being a part of a successful franchise that had the fans come out regardless. If it wasn't called Die Hard then we'd be looking at another fatality to join Bullet in the Head and The Last Stand. However, I can't really fault Fox on the marketing on this, which was spot on (that Valentine's Day trailer was excellent).

Matthew Huntley: I agree with Shalimar the trailer was spot on and believe Fox's decision to release it on Valentine's Day was risky but effective counter-programming (I don't think it would have done any better had it come out during the summer). In the end, though, I think it paid off only slightly, as this movie is going to need a lot of help to recoup its near $100 million budget. It will likely do this with the help of its international receipts, but I don't think this particular Die Hard movie will make it over the century mark domestically. The consensus is the reviews are overshadowing the fan loyalty and moviegoers are choosing not to give it a chance. Man, 2013 just hasn't been kind to the former owners of Planet Hollywood (Schwarzenegger, Stallone and now Willis).

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