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Max Braden: I'll agree there's some element about the subject matter that doesn't sell very well. Even with Boiler Room scenarios and quick, insane wealth being a topic on people's minds since the country's financial chaos started (wow, five years ago), a movie like The Great Gatsby is an outlier rather than a draw. But I think you can't hold Justin Timberlake harmless. He's a phenomenal performer when it comes to music and SNL comedy, but where he's starred in dramatic roles, I think audiences sense that the luster is gone. Friends With Benefits, In Time, Trouble with the Curve.... they're all just 'eh'. I think if you put him in a villainous role, that might spice things up. If he's failing at characters audiences love to love, put him in something they'll love to hate.

Kim Hollis: I just don't think the studio cared about this one at all. They knew it was a stinker and just didn't make any particular effort to sell it in a meaningful way. I suppose some of that could be attributed to the fact that there just wasn't anything good to sell, either.

David Mumpower: Occasionally, a movie like Bandslam comes along and everyone is left wondering how such a great product could be buried by a studio. Titles like that are the exception. Runner Runner is the rule. Whenever a production gets effectively abandoned like has transpired here, everyone surrounding the project has reached a consensus that it's a bomb. Generally, Hollywood executives are smart people, and unanimity of opinion is rare where smart people are involved.

Ben Affleck's first project since he became Batman reminds me a lot of Sandra Bullock's situation with All about Steve, a title shot before The Proposal and The Blind Side made her star again but released right smack dab in the middle of the two. Nobody remembers it because it was terrible, and I would not be surprised if Affleck's people lobbied to cut the cord on this to avoid a few awkward news cycles.

There are two losers with the project. The first is Justin Timberlake, who continues to struggle in his attempts to become a viable lead actor. After Trouble with the Curve and In Time, Runner Runner represents his third consecutive movie to disappoint domestically. He has shown impressive appeal overseas, however, so that will mitigate the potential financial loss here.

The other loser is the team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the creators of the aforementioned Rounders. This project joins the short-lived ESPN series, Tilt, in their library of would-be Rounders follow-ups that nobody demonstrated an interest in watching. They are friends with Soderbergh and Clooney, though. They co-wrote Ocean's Thirteen and The Girlfriend Experience, and they will continue to get work because of their track record and powerful friends. The fact they couldn't sell a movie with Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck is still problematic.

Kim Hollis: Pulling Strings, another Latino-targeted movie from Lionsgate's Pantelion Films, opened in ninth place with $2.5 million from only 327 venues. How are they getting such stellar results?

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