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David Mumpower: What amuses me about the premise is that it is eerily, perhaps lawsuit-ily similar to a Leverage episode called The Top Hat Job. Hell, there are similarities to several other Leverage episodes including the pilot as well. But that may just be my bitterness about Leverage's untimely cancellation talking.

Despite the statement above, I believe Now You See Me provided something that we have not seen a lot in calendar 2013: originality. Yes, we have already seen a dueling magicians movie in 2013 just as we have seen the premise done with Leverage. None of that changes the fact that this is a sleek premise, a con game featuring several popular young actors. It is a different variation on early 2012's Man on a Ledge, which opened well at $18.6 million. With the young cast and the Vegas hustle backdrop, it also shares similarities to a surprise blockbuster from 2008, 21. So that's four different ideas over the past 15 months yet I *still* believe it to be novel moviemaking in comparison to the dreary batch of sequels and remakes that have comprised the first five months of movies.

Now You See Me had clever trailers and was marketed via the sizzle instead of the steak. It is clearly not a great film to the point that 74% of Rotten Tomatoes top critics disliked it.

The other conclusion I draw from these events is that Vegas as a setting has become highly bankable in recent years. Maybe The Hangover Part III should have returned to its roots. It earned more than double the money yet Now You See Me will be remembered as a hit while Hangover III will be forever described as a disappointment if not a bomb.

Kim Hollis: After Earth, the storied action union of M. Night Shyamalan, Will Smith and Smith's son Jaden, earned a lower-than-projected $27.5 million from 3,401 locations. What are your thoughts on the film's weekend performance?

Jay Barney: This is a pretty big miss. There is not any other way to spin this. I actually thought the trailer was pretty good and I tend to want to see science fiction movies, so I still might go see it despite the bad reviews. A second place finish against Fast & Furious 6 would have at least meant something, but for After Earth to come in third on its opening weekend is disappointing. It almost seemed as though things went downhill for Will Smith and M. Night Shyamalan as the weekend went on.

Now You See Me opened a bit stronger than expected, but that doesn’t excuse this poor showing. Star Trek still has a bit of an audience, but I think it would be silly to blame this poor performance on the presence of another Sci-Fi flick in the top 10. Science Fiction is the bread and butter of the movie going industry; there were plenty of potential movie goers who could have bought tickets for this one. It should have opened higher….much higher. Oblivion opened to $37 million only a month and a half ago. Prometheus opened to at $51 million at about the same time last year.

I have to admit that I am not the hater of M. Night Shyamalan that some people are, but his track record is starting to leave a wake of pretty significant misses. Despite a lot of the talk, the Village was a surprising success. It was made for only $60 million in 2004 and took in $250 million worldwide. After that things have been pretty messy. 2006’s The Lady in the Water was made for $70 million and its worldwide gross barely equaled that. When international receipts are taken into account The Happening made money, but was poorly received. The Last Airbender somehow made money after overseas revenue was added, but a lot of people hate that movie.

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