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Kim Hollis: Get Hard, featuring the comedy pairing of Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, earned $33.8 million. What do you think of this result?

Jason Barney: This opening for Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart is huge considering the project was only made for $40 million. So the film has achieved its goal in the first weekend. It will have made money. Everyone involved can relax and know that even with some very serious drops on the horizon, the film will make a sizable profit at the end of its run. A lingering question is the film’s quality and just how bad it actually is. The Rotten Tomatoes score for a comedy is awful, and some of the publicity the film is getting is not helping. You have to wonder if the drops in the coming weekends are going to be more substantial than they normally would be.

Edwin Davies: Get Hard strikes me as a film with potential to be a one-and-done kind of deal, both because it's opening before the behemoth that is Furious 7 and because word-of-mouth surrounding it is pretty toxic. I'd expect it to see pretty steep declines in the weeks ahead as more options become available, so it needed to make a pretty sizable impact on opening weekend, which it did. Clearly the combination of Hart and Ferrell, huge names in comedy with fairly different styles, drew in both of their fan bases enough to counteract the shoddiness of the trailers, and probably heightened the culture clash comedy of setup. And, as was the case with Home, both stars did their utmost to promote the film as much as possible.

Matthew Huntley: I agree with Edwin and Jason for the most part in their reactions, although I would argue the trailers weren't "shoddy," but rather effective. The reason I say so is because every time they played in theaters, members of the audience laughed out loud and throughout, so in my opinion, one of the main reasons Get Hard was probably able to perform so well was because its marketing blinded audiences to its actual quality. That is, most of those who saw it probably didn't pay attention to its reviews, choosing instead to see it based on the trailer, TV spots, etc. However, if it is, in fact, as bad as its 31% RT score indicates, the honeymoon is likely over after this weekend and word-of-mouth will slow down its momentum. But, as Jason suggested, the damage has already been done and the movie is likely on its way to profitability. It's just a matter of time before it officially crosses this threshold.

Ryan Kyle: I agree with Edwin, that like with Home, the stars did everything possible to promote this. Reviews were never going to be much of a factor, and with the opening almost covering the entire budget, this is a definite win. Ferrell films usually have a healthy multiple while Hart's crash fast after the opening weekend. It will be interesting to see how this one plays, but with Furious 7 opening, I'd place my money on the latter. Still, a $100 million finish wouldn't be shocking.

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