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Sunshine on my shoulders feels so...ow, that burns.

Kim Hollis: Daybreakers, the latest in a long line of recent vampire movies, opened to $15.1 million. Should Lionsgate be pleased with this result?

Tom Macy: Holy crap! Avatar made - oh... Daybreakers? Yeah, I'm sure they're happy, but not surprised. Vampires in all form of media seem to be performing like clockwork these days. That being said, pulling in $15 million the second weekend in January and coming in fourth is a pretty good deal. Honestly, I think the biggest winer here is Ethan Hawke. His resume over the last decade is pretty rough, though he does have Before Sunset in there.

Shalimar Sahota: The totally dark-sided concept of vampires having won and humans being harvested for blood is a great idea. This was originally David S Goyer's idea for what he wanted to do with the third Blade instalment (and in my opinion, that film should have gone that road). Hopefully, the positive reviews should give it some legs and it'll be a small sized profit for Lionsgate. But with the unusually stronger than Big Daddy Christmas holdovers and the upcoming The Book of Eli, I feel that this won't be in the top ten for long.

Josh Spiegel: Absolutely. Though Lionsgate probably was able to bank on the current vampire craziness with Twilight, the stars of this movie aren't exactly bankable. I like Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, but they don't equal big bucks. Moreover, with Avatar continuing to dominate the box office and the NFL playoffs beginning this weekend, Lionsgate should be thrilled.

Shane Jenkins: I think so too, especially with Avatar still pulling away a chunk of its potential audience. It can't have hurt that Daybreakers is that rarest of beasts - a well-reviewed January horror flick.





Jim Van Nest: My first reaction to this question was, "What the hell is Daybreakers?" If that's my first reaction, Lionsgate should be thrilled with $15 million.

Reagen Sulewski: This is a really solid result for a film breaking the cardinal rule of vampire-action films of not putting a female character in skin-tight leather. Here, they pushed early and often hoping that the (apparent) quality would shine through, which seemed to give this numbers. Because really, name something that's ever opened well on the name of Ethan Hawke (no Uma jokes, please).

Michael Lynderey: I think Lions Gate should be well satisfied with this one. The horror genre's gone through some bumps in the road lately - even the futuristic action-horror-sci-fi combo that Daybreakers falls under - and so getting a decent enough $15 million opening and a probable $30 million - $40 million total is certainly very acceptable, even if not quite on the franchise-creating level. This one had no real stars, so it had to survive on concept and reviews alone, and it's done that admirably enough.

Max Braden: That beats the pants off Jennifer's Body, and matches the opening for 30 Days of Night. Not bad, not great, but good for a January release in the shadow of Avatar.

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