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BOP still loves Kristen Bell and is apathetic toward Tim Allen.

Kim Hollis: There were two much less successful openings this weekend. Pulse managed $8.5 million, while Zoom garnered only $4.6 million. Are they both losers?

Tim Briody: Pulse came in about right where I figured, but Zoom's out and out bombing surprised me a little bit.

Dan Krovich: A horror movie with recognizable teen stars seems like it should have opened bigger than that. I think the new Weinstein Company is still getting its bearings. But I'm sure it was cheap enough not to be damaging.

Reagen Sulewski: Pulse was made quite cheaply, if reports can be believed, so that'll ultimately be a winner. But it's difficult to view it positively in line with things like The Ring and The Grudge.

David Mumpower: Pulse was bounced around so much on the schedule that we knew it was in trouble. The good news is that this is a dirt cheap production of $7.5 million. Final box office in the $17 million range isn't devastating. Zoom's resounding thud is nothing short of disturbing.

Reagen Sulewski: Yeah, I was a bit surprised to see Pulse moved back up to the 11th. I wonder if a large part of its audience just didn't know it was coming out.

Tim Briody: And Kristen Bell, if you are distraught over the performance of your movie, please call me.

David Mumpower: One of the BOP staff hung out with Ms. Bell last week. Needless to say, he was the envy of his Veronica Mars-worshipping peers. I do think it's telling that even on a site of Asian cinema-obsessed Kirsten Bell fanatics, none of us was at all enthusiastic about Pulse.

It was a little soon for a Sky High clone.

Kim Hollis: I had higher hopes for Pulse earlier in the year (the original film was interesting if a little dull), but the recent release changes and lackluster marketing had me figuring it wouldn't break out. Zoom was simply unoriginal and feels like a rip-off of Sky High to me. I imagine it'll have a nice life as a family video film.

Dan Krovich: Zoom was looking more and more like a dump job closer to release, but I think they still expected to get more out of it than that.

Joel Corcoran: Totally agree - Zoom was a surprising bomb, and while Pulse was disappointing, I think Dano is right about the Weinstein Company still getting it's bearings. Neither movie had a MySpace page, by the way.

Reagen Sulewski: I think Tim Allen just gets to play Santa and Buzz Lightyear for the rest of his life.

You may look forward to a lot more of Will Ferrell's screaming.

Kim Hollis: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby made $22.1 million and is sitting at $90.3 million total. Is this going to have a chance to be Will Ferrell's biggest film?

Tim Briody: It's not going to catch Elf after that decline, but it's going to be a solid second place for sure.

David Mumpower: Elf wound up with $173.4 million domestically, so Talladega Nights is barely even halfway there. I suspect Mr. Ferrell will have to be satisfied with this being the biggest opening of his career. It's still a huge hit, though, and that's all that matters.

Tim Briody: Elf opened in November and got a boost through the holidays, Ricky Bobby gets the dog days of August and Labor Day.

Reagen Sulewski: I'd say it ends at closer to $140 million, but it's nothing to be upset about. As I said in the forecast, those are Sandler numbers.

Now available on DVD?

Kim Hollis: Barnyard fell 36% to $10.1 million, while The Descent fell 48% to $4.6 million. Given the genres, these holdovers seem pretty solid, don't they?

Reagen Sulewski: Given that they didn't fall off the map, absolutely.

David Mumpower: The Descent holdover is quite a bit better than I expected. This is at least partially attributed to solid word-of-mouth though the lower opening numbers also contribute. I do believe it will prove to be a sleeper title on home video a la Pitch Black. As for Barnyard, $36 million is double what I expected it to make in total, so it's doing great relative to my expectations.

Joel Corcoran: I think so. If anything, The Descent fell less than I expected - maybe the public is catching on to this movie. But I'm still scratching my head over Barnyard.

Dan Krovich: They both seem like pretty good holds for what they are. I think the word of mouth is getting out for The Descent, which had no recognizable cast to sell...as will Barnyard, like most family films do.

Kim Hollis: Right, they're definitely destined to be big DVD hits. The Descent is the kind of thing that will probably find its true audience through that medium.

Reagen Sulewski: As will Pulse, when it comes right down to it.

David Mumpower: The constant here is that all of the end-of-summer dump projects are going to turn out just fine due to the gravy train that is DVD.

Tim Briody: And soon there will be a time when you'll be able to pick it up on your way out the theater.

Joel Corcoran: Or until you're able to download the movie directly onto your iPod as you're leaving the theater.

David Mumpower: Unless exhibitors make ties with the mafia sooner rather than later.