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PG-13 thrills! Chills!

Kim Hollis: The Roommate, the Screen Gems release starring Minka Kelly and Leighton Meester, opened to $15.0 million. Do you think they should be pleased with this result?

Josh Spiegel: As counterprogramming, sure. Screen Gems does not specialize in big movies, movies that are meant to be blockbusters, so The Roommate is in line with that. However, I'm not sure that any movie where a cat gets killed (apparently) should be getting anyone's dollars, especially if, as in this case, the death is clearly exploitative. From a financial standpoint, of course, Screen Gems will be pleased, though they might have hoped for a slightly bigger number.

Edwin Davies: I'd say so. The film, dubious though its quality undoubtedly is, cost next to nothing to make, opened higher than any expected, and essentially stole the weekend through sheer lack of competition. It was a very canny piece of programming that paid off handsomely. Well, not handsomely. Sort of okay-looking, maybe kind of attractive after a few beers-ly. Sure, no one will remember it by the end of the year (or possibly after leaving the theater) but it'll recoup its costs soon enough.

Reagen Sulewski: I'm somewhat shocked that this film snuck through with this much - even teens should have better crap detectors than this. I suppose the "well, I gotta see *something*" crowd is bigger than I would have thought. The truly depressing thing is that yet another film has managed to escape relatively unscathed from withholding itself for reviews. But as mentioned, this is pretty much instantly profitable. Maybe they'll try to remake all of Bridget Fonda's films with Minka Kelly in the lead role.





Bruce Hall: Lucky for Screen Gems, there are still plenty of people who'd rather sit through a bad movie than read a good book. I guess J.K. Rowling had better get back to work.

Jim Van Nest: I think they should be ecstatic with that result. Seriously, was anyone clamoring for a Single White Female remake? I would have thought this would have been recognized for crap and left to die a $6-7 million opening death.

Daron Aldridge: I am of the Jim Van Nest school of thought on this one and it pulled in twice what I was thinking it could. Reagan, as intriguing as a remake of 1996's City Hall with Kelly, Shia LaBeouf and Kevin Spacey would be, I think we'll have to wait with her being cast in the remake of Charlie's Angels.

Kim Hollis: It's almost made its budget back already, which is plenty good at this point. It's about what I would have expected, honestly, given the marketing behind it and the fact that teens just seem to like these lame thrillers.

David Mumpower: I concur that this is a solid result, one that reinforces my belief that Screen Gems is one of the distributors in the industry in terms of knowing their target audience and catering to them effectively. They are rarely guilty of overreaching, instead focusing on these slight but intriguing premises that have low risk and make money. Screen Gems has some of the best decision makers in the industry, year in and year out.

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