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Kim Hollis: The Croods, the latest 3D animated film from DreamWorks, opened to $43.6 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?

Bruce Hall: Well, this is the first truly kid friendly film we've had in theaters in over a month, and it couldn't have dropped at a better time, with tots everywhere off from school. I still think DreamWorks is a firm second banana to Pixar but this is a strong opening, and I don't believe there's any real competition lined up until Epic opens in May. I think The Croods will continue to put up solid numbers and if your'e a fan, rejoice - this will no doubt be enough to warrant a sequel.

Felix Quinonez: I think this a great result that will give the movie some very nice headlines, which will in turn get more people interested in it. When you throw in the overseas weekend numbers, this movie has already made over $100 million. Also, the upcoming holiday will definitely play in its favor and when you consider that it won't have any real competition for more than a month, I think it's safe to say that The Croods is in very good shape.

Matthew Huntley: Not a monster opening, but as Bruce and Felix alluded to, its leg are bound to be very long given the lack of direct competition. I think it's safe to say it will make at least $170 million domestically and, oh, about $500 million+ worldwide since its subject matter/characters are so easily dubb-able/universal (The Croods is not unlike Ice Age in this regard, which I'm sure was no accident when it was green lit). Stateside, I think its success will mostly be by default, since the movie itself is nothing special. It'll gross a lot of money because it's one of the few family options out there, not because it's particularly high quality.

Edwin Davies: This is a solid opening that probably has more to do with timing than anything else. We're three months into the year and there hasn't been a huge amount for families other than Oz: The Great and Powerful and, to a much lesser extent, Escape from Planet Earth, so people would be primed to see something like The Croods regardless of its quality (though the fact that it's not really terrible probably helps a bit). Going forward, I think it'll probably hold okay and end up somewhere north of $150 million, so it's not going to be a flop for DreamWorks, but they probably aren't going to recoup marketing costs unless the film takes off overseas, which it likely will. In short, this one looks like it might be a bit of a qualified success for DreamWorks, but a success nonetheless.

Jay Barney: This is a very solid opening, as I think there was a lot of speculation ahead of the weekend that this one might under perform. Against the production budget and marketing costs, this $44 million will go a long way. This has to be counted as a success, as Oz The Great and Powerful is still out there, only a few weeks old. The other kid-friendly picture, Escape From Planet Earth, has dropped out of the top ten but when the release schedule was set up, I'm sure they were hoping for the stars to align for the least competitive weekend possible. Croods is not a box office smash hit, but it will do fairly well over the coming weeks. The international gross is already starting to pile up and this kid flick is over the $100 million mark worldwide. This should have enough steam to push it into the territory of recouping the production and marketing costs. Maybe it is sad when we can label a film that only makes its money back a success, but Jack the Giant Slayer this is not.

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