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Cue the Little River Band earworm...

Kim Hollis: The Other Guys opened to $35.6 million. Is this more, less, or about what you expected? Should Sony be pleased with the result?

Josh Spiegel: Sony should be very pleased with the result. I figured the movie would open around $30 million, and it got on the higher end of that number. Though Will Ferrell's movie career has been wildly inconsistent, with some big hits (Elf, Talladega Nights) and big flops (Bewitched, Land of the Lost), one thing remains consistent: when he works with frequent collaborator Adam McKay, the movie does well. Talladega Nights, Step Brothers and Anchorman made different amounts, but all did well, and all are consistent earners. Now, maybe McKay and Ferrell can persuade Sony to buy the rights to Anchorman to make a sequel. Here's hoping.

Max Braden: Land of the Lost's failure to perform last summer clearly didn't hurt Ferrell like I thought it might. This number is nowhere near what Rush Hour 2 and 3 made opening weekend, but early August is generally a good place for buddy action movies and I'd say this one is a solid success.





Bruce Hall: I think that when between your two leads two of their most recent films include Land of the Lost and Max Payne then yes, you have to be pretty pleased. A lot of people weren't sure what to make of this one, but good reviews and positive word-of-mouth have made this just the shot in the arm its two stars need. I loved Ferrell on SNL, but his man-child routine has long since gotten tiresome for me. He's capable of (a little) more than that, and there's apparently nobody better than Adam McKay at finding that middle ground for him. Is it too early to call them the Elton John and Bernie Taupin of middlebrow comedy? I also insist that in addition to being a decent actor, Mark Wahlberg's latent comedy chops deserve mining, so I'm glad to see it pay off here. I mean, you can't make a living off your abs forever.

Tom Houseman: This is right in the middle of a typical late summer, big name comedy. Talladega Nights opened to $47 million, clearly riding the coattails of Anchorman. Tropic Thunder opened to $25 million, as clearly Ben Stiller is no Will Ferrell. The folks at Sony would have been happier with $40 million, obviously, but this is still a perfectly fine number.

The real question here is going to be word-of-mouth. Talladega Nights dropped 53% its second weekend and ended with about three times its opening, mostly because it was garbage. Tropic Thunder dropped 37% its second weekend on its way to making more than four times its opening, mostly because it was freaking hilarious. I haven't seen The Other Guys, but based on the reviews it's getting it seems to be closer to the latter in terms of reception. If It quadruples its opening it will end up with about $142 million, not quite Talladega Nights numbers, but still a number everyone involved will be happy with.

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