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Anti-hero vs. Anti-hero on July 4th. That seems...wrong.

Kim Hollis: Going into the 4th of July weekend where it will directly compete against another anti-superhero movie, do you have any concern about Wanted's legs?

Tim Briody: I never thought it'd have any in the first place. Word-of-mouth is pretty lousy and it's just a movie of money shots, which were all given away in the trailer. Even if Hancock wasn't around the corner, it'd be in freefall next weekend anyway.

Joel Corcoran: Legs? What legs? The only legs this film will have are Angelina Jolie's in a side-slit dress.

Michael Bentley: Joel, I'm now envisioning a new commercial for Wanted. A voiceover: "Thinking of seeing Hancock this weekend?" Then the screen just shows Angelina's long legs, as she slowly hikes up her side-slit dress. "Think again."

Kevin Chen: I wouldn't have even considered these movies in the same category without this question. Hancock's trailer pushes comedy, while Wanted was clearly about the action and special effects. Which is a moot point anyway, because Joel is absolutely right.





Reagen Sulewski: We are nearing the day where a film will have a 1.0 multiplier. I think Wanted will be viewed as a vanguard in this process.

David Mumpower: I too see Wanted's legs as Hulk-ly. As Tim has indicated, this movie is just like a comedy where the three good jokes are in the trailer. The only interesting action takes place in the commercials. I expect word-of-mouth to wipe it out.

Brandon Scott: Wanted shot like a speeding bullet out of the BO gate at a rate faster than just about anyone anticipated. But do I see people wanting to see this pic as much in the coming weeks? Not quite. Yes, I am concerned that this will be a rapidly declining film as there are still several big summer movies soon to drop in similar genres or vying for similar audiences, see Hancock and Dark Knight. That being said, with a negative cost of about $65 million, this is assured of being a financial success right out of the gate and Variety was reporting even prior to its release that a Wanted sequel was already being discussed. So, I see shorter legs for the film, but a potential spawning of at least a mini-franchise nevertheless.

Jason Lee: Call me crazy, but I do not think that the audience for Wanted is the same audience that's excited about seeing Hancock. It seems to me that the former is male action enthusiasts and the latter is a broader reach into adults and families. That said, if you're asking whether or not I think Wanted will deliver a drop better than 55%, my answer is "no."

Sean Collier: Wanted's audience is proving to be diverse, but decidedly adult. With Sex and the City (finally) and The Happening (thankfully) on the way out, Wanted is the R-rated film of choice for the foreseeable future. Hancock and its PG-13 rating should skew a little younger and more mainstream; I'd wager that Wanted is fairly safe until its slaughtered by The Dark Knight. As an interesting aside, I work at a movie theater, and a surprising number of elderly couples have been showing up for Wanted, for no reason I can determine. A few of them asked "Which is the one with Morgan Freeman?" I suppose this is residual love from The Bucket List, or something, but I can't help but wonder if any of these septugenarians saw the trailer.

Scott Lumley: Let's be frank here. The general perception about Wanted is not that it's a superhero film. It's being perceived as an action film. It's hitting a demographic that is not being particularly well served at the moment and that alone is going to carry it farther than it normally would. Wanted is never going to hang with Pixar, and it might get slapped around by Hancock a bit, but this has an angle that nothing else is offering right now with the exception possibly of Get Smart, and that's being perceived as a comedy, not an action film. It's going to have average legs for a summer film, which is to say, monster drops after the second week and out of theatres in six to eight weeks.

Daron Aldridge: The rating and audience appeal will be bigger factors for its legs than Hancock. Wanted doesn't appear to have as much crossover for non-action film fans. Hancock has a broader appeal thanks to Will Smith and his media mastery. The man promoted the film on The Colbert Report, for heaven's sake, which is a true rarity for that show with 90% of its guests being authors or politicians. The redemptive element of Hancock, which has been included in every ad, signals that it will probably be more straightforward of a story, where the anti-hero makes the right choice to change his ways, unlike the actionfest of Wanted.

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