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We love you, I Love You, Man

Kim Hollis: I Love You, Man finished in second place with $17.8 million. What do you think of this result?

Josh Spiegel: I'm not too surprised with this result; it seems to fall in line with previous Judd Apatow or, in this case, Judd Apatow-esque comedies, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Role Models, 40 Year-Old Virgin. It would have been nice for Paul Rudd and Jason Segel to get a bigger opening, but for a comedy as funny as this one, with two leads who aren't the biggest stars in the universe, I think it's an impressive enough open.

Jason Lee: While I did think that this movie would at least eclipse $20 million, it's a solid opening. You have a couple of big, but not huge stars, in a bromance storyline, while the male crowd was obviously preferring to see things get blowed up real good. This movie was capped in terms of gross from the very beginning.

Brandon Scott: Josh mentioned the two titles that were indicative of its expected results in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and to a larger extent Role Models. So this figure falls right in line with those and the two "stars" should be pleased. Am I the only one who found the trailers repulsively unfunny? Segel just doesn't engage me as an actor, at some point an every-man schtick is not enough for the big screen. An actor has to have charisma in order to really be a worthy draw over time. I think Rudd has that. I would have liked to see Brad Pitt and Will Smith play in a film like this, only to show what charisma could do for a concept like this. Then the film would have instantly had much more crossover appeal and box office potential. Studio heads take note.





Max Braden: I think the marketing push helped. I saw a lot of ads, but on top of that there was a big "Introducing Paul Rudd" theme going around.

Daron Aldridge: As Tim pointed out in the Friday Analysis, this hit exactly where it was always going to and the studios had to have expected it to mimic the performance Role Models and Sarah Marshall. Nice one, Tim. As long as the studios are smart about it and continue to keep the budget for these films around the $28 million of Role Models, the films will continue to be in the black.

Kim Hollis: I had imagined that I Love You, Man might have had a more cumulative effect from the combination of Paul Rudd and Jason Segel that what it wound up with. It's right in line with Role Models, but I have to think that it ought to have finished in the low $20s. Regardless, I think it should have nice staying power at the box office but I've been confounded by the way things have performed this year, to be sure.

David Mumpower: While I agree with what everyone else has said here, I have to be honest that this movie's opening weekend performance is a disappointment. Given the ascending popularity of the two leads, I had expected a debut north of $20 million, possibly even $25 million. For whatever reason, the trailers for this never managed to sell it as a good enough successor to Role Models to justify the return business. It's either that or McLovin is something of a box office draw, something I say half as a joke and half as a serious thought process about his (fleeting) popularity coming off of Superbad.

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