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Kim Hollis: The Book of Life, an animated film produced by Guillermo del Toro, earned $17 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: I think this is fine given the modest budget and the unusual subject matter, but I was expecting it to do a touch better considering that it's the first CG animated film to come out since Planes: Fire and Rescue back in July. Coming out after The Boxtrolls and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day may have lessened its impact since family audiences now have a variety of options to choose from. That might have tempered the opening weekend, but it probably means that it will have do well in the weeks ahead as families get around to seeing it, and it's Dios de los Muertos setting should give it a strong appeal in Latin American countries. Like Fury, I consider this to be a decent start but find the prospects for the film in the weeks ahead much more promising.

Jason Barney: I think this opening is just fine. It could've opened higher, but it is not as though this was a children's franchise with built in fan support. Sometimes I am surprised when films like this don't open higher, as I continue to feel the animated and family friendly market is under explored. This by no means takes away from a successful start for Book of Life. $17 million is a great number against that budget of only $50 million. I would expect the holds to be pretty good over the next couple of weeks and it will surpass its budget well before it leaves theaters.

Felix Quinonez: I think it's just fine. It's by no means a smash but I didn't really expect it to be. Given the fact that it didn't have a built in franchise audience and it looked kind of weird, it would have been unfair to expect it to break out. But because it has a low enough budget it should be a modest hit.

Reagen Sulewski: It's interesting that we're getting to the point where "alternative animation" is becoming a thing, and a viable one at that. Hopefully no one was looking on this to challenge Pixar in any respect, but we're getting some consistent results for the off the beaten path animated films, whereas previously they might have had a $5 million opening and been begging an Animated Feature nomination as a consolation. This is what breaking out of the animation ghetto looks like.

David Mumpower: On a personal level, I am disappointed by the result, because I thought the movie demonstrated a rare degree of animation creativity. Its look is refreshing in an industry that has become inundated with sameness. I suspect that the issue is the fact that nobody really knows what the movie is about, and the advertising certainly would not have educated anyone on the subject. I consider this one in a huge miss in terms of the opportunity cost of having an engaging product that nobody knew how to sell.

Kim Hollis: It's about what I expected. The film looked amazing stylistically, but I suspect it was just a touch bit too weird for a wider audience than it received. Once international receipts and home video are rolled into the totals, the studio should be very pleased with what Guillermo del Toro and team accomplished here.

Max Braden: That's equal to the opening for The Boxtrolls just three weeks ago. I see one as slightly darker, one as slightly brighter, both somewhat of an acquired taste for animation style, which explains why they both landed the same opening. To me that says there's a market for "interesting animation," even if it's not the blockbuster style that tops box office charts.

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