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Bruce Hall: The money has indeed been made. I'm not sure anyone could have predicted the 800 pound gorilla that ate another 800 pound gorilla that is American Sniper, not even people who count "American" and "Sniper" among their top five favorite words. But I'll be the first one to say it can't feel fair if you're responsible for anything programmed against it this weekend. At this point, people who wouldn't have seen a film like that in a million years are hitting the theater just to avoid being left out of the conversation.

Once your film has captured the coveted "monkey see monkey do" demographic, it can truly be said to have legs.

Still, The Boy Next Door can be held up as a blueprint of sorts. Rather than shooting for the stars, Universal and Team Lopez sought to make a steamy, low budget potboiler that appealed directly to the singer's fan base. They kept their eye on the ball, with a short production schedule and a tightly focused marketing campaign spearheaded by Lopez herself.

No, this movie is not going to reshape her career and no, we will probably never speak of it again. But it IS a resounding success, and without a doubt the most satisfying thing about it for it for everyone involved is that this was in no way an accident.

Michael Lynderey: These are almost best case scenario numbers. The Boy Next Door - from the title to the plotline to the trailer and then inevitably through to the film itself - is as generic as they get. That the film came in with a pretty good weekend number is a testament to Jennifer Lopez's remaining star power, but also to the season; cheesy thrillers do pretty well in January, even if they drop off the face of the earth in weekend two (American Sniper is an exception, of course).

I've always been really confused why Jennifer Lopez seemingly dropped out of being a leading woman after Monster-in-Law (2005). It wasn't a great film, but it was one of her biggest hits ($82 million total). She's followed that up with basically just two leading roles in studio films - The Back-Up Plan (2010), and now this. I look forward to her 2020 film.

David Mumpower: I'm not erotically thrilled by it. And did Jason really describe this as a soft opening? Why not flaccid or impotent? Sorry, my inner Beavis has been screaming all week as this shameless capitalization upon pent-up demand for 50 Shades of Grey has been marketed so...hornily? Is hornily a word? Anyway, there was a time when Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Lopez's People would have thumbed their nose at playing Stifler's Mom in a Cinemax After Dark production. That time was pre-Bennifer. I love that Affleck is a respected director *and* Batman while JLo is sexing up a dude who was 10 when Selena was released. Based on their reputations, that's a rare example of karmic retribution in action in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Rob Cohen is left hoping that Vin Diesel can orchestrate his return to the Fast and Furious franchise they created.

None of this really has anything to do with The Boy Next Door, which speaks volumes about how much I care about this debut.

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