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Brett Ballard-Beach: To make some kind of point, I was going to toss out the $26 million final gross of 2000's The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (a pleasant little film as I recall, prime Piper Perabo to boot), but I don't think that's a fair comparison. In a case like this, I honestly don't think the source material (i.e. the fact that these characters have been in existence for half a century, but haven't been "culturally relevant" since before I was born) was going to help or hurt this project, This might as well have been a new brand for all it matters. A $32 million opening and an A Cinemascore are good, but not great. And getting beaten out handily by an R-rated gore phantasmagoria doesn't make for great copy either. This might or might not break $100 million domestically. I would be surprised if this did a lot past $300 million worldwide. With a $145 million budget, that's not the best way to start off.

Max Braden: At first I was puzzled at to whom this movie was being marketed, as the kids who would be the major audience for this movie have no reference for the material (are the old cartoons being played on TV anywhere?) and the adults familiar with the old show probably weren't saying "Hey, why isn't there a Mr. Peabody movie?" But then of course the relentless marketing made me think that kids would love a talking, time traveling dog. He's sort of a canine Dora the Explorer. I did expect a larger opening just prior to release, but this result isn't too surprising either way. The Smurfs was a similar blast from the past project, and it opened to a similar $35.6 million during the height of Summer 2011. Peabody's production budget is pretty daunting, though, since I don't expect this movie will be able to match The Smurfs's final gross.

Kim Hollis: It has already made $100 million worldwide, so I think it's going to be fine budget-wise in the long run. I think the studio was in a situation where it had a "known" brand, but the fact that it was part of the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show long ago meant that being a "known" quantity was useless. Even the parents of most of the children who would be interested are too young to really remember the show. (Here is the sad trombone spot where I admit that I am not too young to remember it. Rocky & Bullwinkle reruns were very popular in my household.) I'm not sure how this was ever going to make much more than it did, and I do think the almost Bill & Ted quality of the marketing did as good a job of selling it as was humanly possible.

David Mumpower: I believe that the most important conversation point is the $145 million budget. Realistically, nobody should have signed off on that large a financial outlay for such a shaky project. As Brett noted, overseas revenue will be crucial. While I expect a stronger international performance than he does, the reality is that this project appears likely to be at best a box office draw by the time it leaves theaters. That's a shame because its advertising has demonstrated the sort of whimsy that most of these ruthlessly calculated family films do not. And the A Cinemascore indicates that the movie is every bit as good as the commercials. I hate that it is not doing any better. This is the sort of imaginative project that our industry so desperately needs, even if it is a remake of sorts.

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