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Kim Hollis: Max, the movie about a dog with war-related PTSD, debuted with $12.2 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?

Jason Barney: This is a pretty good result and insures the film will make a profit. The tracking numbers I saw were somewhere in the $10 million range, so coming out a couple million above that is really nice - especially considering that it has knocked off half of its budgetary number with its first weekend. I don't think it is going to stick around for very long, though. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is going to be pretty damaging. It will be an option during the 4th of July week, but will get lost in the shuffle pretty quickly after that.

Edwin Davies: This seems like a best case scenario for a film which, judging by most reviews, is a baffling mix of kids movie and drug cartel movie, or like Free Willy if, half way through, Willy was conscripted and sent to the first Gulf War. The trailers did a good job of hitting the key points (people like dogs and that people also like veterans, so Veteran Dog - which is what the film should have been called - is an easy sell) and it probably benefited from being another option for people who had already taken their kids to see Inside Out. I don't think it'll hang around long, but it should make a nice chunk of change from being a unique offering in the marketplace.

Ben Gruchow: I love seeing the line “from the producer(s) of [X]” on posters and in trailers. It's almost as reliable as “from the studio that brought you [X]” in how much it really isn't a barometer of anything except for name-dropping. At the very least, we know that Karen Rosenfelt likes dogs.

This is a solid result for a $20 million film, especially for one that (again, as Edwin said) looked confused about what exactly it wanted to be. There's a moment in the trailer where the tone shifts from “gooey family drama” to “PG-rated adventure” so distinctly that you can almost hear it click. Reviews are negative, but not so negative as to make it seem grandiose in its badness. It seems to be here mostly as counter-programming for Ted 2, it'll make a tidy profit, and it'll be forgotten in a couple of weeks.

Michael Lynderey: I see this as a win for all involved, especially since it'll probably have a decent run over the next few weeks when school is out. It seems like a nice little movie, and it's one of the few films in wide release so far this summer that doesn't look like it was aiming to be a blockbuster. We need more of these mid-tier releases. And to its credit, Max will almost certainly outgross some recent movies with a lot more name recognition and star power, like Entourage, Aloha, Hot Pursuit, and maybe even Insidious: Chapter 3 (you never know. It only has to get to $50+ million). Good doggie!

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