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What happens if you throw a Prom and no one shows up?

Kim Hollis: Prom, Disney's attempt at another High School Musical franchise, opened to $4.7 million. Why do you think this one failed to strike a chord with the tween crowd...or anyone else?

Bruce Hall: It's hard for me to say for sure because the time I tried to watch Glee was one of the most excruciating experiences of my adult life. And sitting through Grease with a girlfriend was like being water boarded. Now, I only date girls if they swear hatred of musicals. That's my only requirement. Anyway, I don't think you can re-create lightning in a bottle. Musicals tend to have a fairly narrow demographic but when one really connects with people, it tends to become a mainstream phenomenon. But that's something that happens through creative effort and good fortune. You can't just copy that sort of thing, and people can usually sense when you're doing it. But that's the theory of a guy who wouldn't watch something like this if you paid off his car. I'm sure fans of the genre might have a different take.

Kim Hollis: Well, it's not a musical, it just looks like it might be one. It's a comedy drama. No matter what, I saw a ton of advertising for this thing on the Disney Channel (as I mentioned in the Friday numbers update, I watch a lot of Phineas and Ferb) and I thought it might strike the right chord with the audience. I was wrong.

Josh Spiegel: Honestly, who can say what went wrong? The premise seemed like it should win, and would be a solid attempt at counterprogramming against Fast Five. If anything, the movie may have failed because it's just like every other teenage-themed romantic comedy, and features only one known actor (and she's only known if you watch Friday Night Lights). I'm just glad Disney's not going to be creating a new franchise themed around high school's biggest nights.

Brett Beach: Perhaps in this day and age, the tweeners have already been indoctrinated into the world of muscle cars and 40-year-olds who say "bro" a lot? I had convinced myself that this would be a double-digit millions opener. Disney delivers more often than not, but, as far as sanitized versions of teen experiences go, this opening seems more like what College Road Trip (which was G-rated) might have experienced without Martin Lawrence or Raven-Symone in the cast. Also, this makes twice in three weeks that Aimee Teegarden has received a cinematic butchering (so to speak).

Max Braden: Casting Selena Gomez at least would have boosted the weekend by 100%. I'm out of the target demographic, but I have to think that part of the problem was an unstructured plot in the trailer as well. Easy A opened to triple this number.

Jim Van Nest: As a father of 12- and 13-year-old boys, I'm surprised that I've never heard of this film. However, the fact that I haven't could give an idea of why it tanked. While this is probably more for teeny-bopper girls, my boys definitely watch the right TV channels to see the ads and I can't recall seeing even one.

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