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They could have made more money if they'd marketed it as Gladiator vs. King Kong

Kim Hollis: American Gangster fell 45% to $24.0 million, giving it a grand total of $80.3 million. Even though it's a foregone conclusion that Bee Movie beats it in terms of total box office, we're still pleased with this result, correct?

Pete Kilmer: Yes we are pleased with the result. I think this movie is going to push $150 million after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Joel Corcoran: Of course we're pleased with this result. However, I'd be more pleased if Bee Movie fell of a cliff.

Max Braden: I would not have been surprised had it topped out at $80 million, so I think this is a good solid run for Denzel, and helps keep it in mind for Oscar candidacy.

Kim Hollis: I think with its opening, American Gangster is always going to be remembered as a success. It's probably a front-runner for awards consideration at the moment, too.

David Mumpower: I would have liked to see a better retention rate than 44%. I still feel like it's a hit but given the talent involved as well as the word-of-mouth, I was expecting a result closer to $30 million. That might seem like a trifle now, but it's about $25 million of difference in terms of final box office.

The only war on terror that has been worth seeing is Imaginationland.

Kim Hollis: Circling back to the subject of Lions for Lambs for a moment, do you think that it's possible for Hollywood to make a movie dealing with the War on Terror that audiences will want to watch? Or will anything dealing with Afghanistan, Iraq and the like fail miserably?

Pete Kilmer: I think the lack of any positive movement on the capture of Bin Laden, the quagmire and mis-management of the situation of Iraq is going to hurt any movie that deals with these subjects. There is nothing to cheer or feel good about with this war.

Now when Rambo hits, I will be very curious as to how well it's received.

Tim Briody: As we've mentioned whenever a film like this is released, movies are escapism for the vast majority of the public. We want to be entertained for a couple of hours when we pay our $9.50, not reminded of what's on tonight's news. A movie would need to be of exceptional quality in order for the public to not entirely dismiss it. The two most recent examples of films depicting current events in the Middle East, Lions for Lambs and The Kingdom, have not been well received, and thus have been largely ignored by viewers.

Joel Corcoran: Any film directly dealing with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has about as much of a chance of being cheered at the box office as Dick Cheney has at being cheered on The Daily Show. Every poll shows that the majority of Americans are just tired of the wars and want them to end as soon as possible, so they're not going to be "entertained" by any movie touching on those subjects. And the extremists on either end of the spectrum -- those who are virulently anti-war or blindly unquestioning supporters of the wars -- simply aren't going to be satisfied with any good drama based on a nuanced, multi-faceted exploration of the important themes of how and why the U.S. entered the war.

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