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Kim Hollis: Lionsgate's Now You See Me was the surprise hit of the weekend, earning $29.4 million in only 2,925 locations. Why do you believe it exceeded most expectations?

Jay Barney: I realize there is a story here as far as Now You See Me coming in second, but I think the bigger story is the failure of its main competition. Now You See Me did have a couple of things going for it. It had a good trailer. The cast was full of actors whom people like to see in films. Lionsgate/Summit was taking on Sony/Columbia. When support for After Earth started to crumble a bit, this became the choice of some during the weekend.

It did well. It took second place, but I am not going to put too much into this performance. The RT ratings aren't great. Maybe it will get strong word-of-mouth in the coming weeks, but again, I think the bigger story is the failure of After Earth.

Brett Ballard-Beach: Having seen no ads, I must guess that they sold it as entertaining and as Jay noted, it may have become the default after After Earth's buzz started to creep on back. Still, only three months ago we were noting that films about magicians could prove to be notoriously tricky sells and here we have one that overperformed and may be alternative programming for a few more weeks as well.

Shalimar Sahota: Here it seems to be a case of taking magic very seriously rather than making a joke about it, which was probably what caused The Incredible Burt Wonderstone to fail. The great cast line-up allows the trailers and posters to give off an Oceans Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen vibe - that at its core this is essentially a heist movie, but with a magical twist. Where the trailers succeed is that they show off an impossible magic trick and also give the impression that there is a big secret, some "grand trick" at the end. Given the hint of mystery, I think a good chunk of people that saw the trailers were sold in the same way a good magic trick leaves you wondering "How did they do it?" Well, I have to pay for a ticket to find out.

Kim Hollis: I was surprised by how many people I heard being excited for Now You See Me. I think that the marketing was really engaging, combining the mystery of magic with the idea of a caper film. The cast is terrific and eclectic. But I'm still extremely impressed that a movie about magicians joining forces to pull off a heist made almost $30 million. It's the kind of thing that can sometimes hit theaters and only make $5-8 million. Kudos to Summit/Lionsgate for a masterful marketing campaign. The other good news is that even though reviews are middling, most comments I have heard are positive, so it might hold up pretty well. And it beat Will Smith. I mean, that's a huge story right there.

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