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Where's our H.R. Pufnstuf movie?!

Kim Hollis: What are your thoughts and expectations for the box office performance of Land of the Lost?

Josh Spiegel: Land of the Lost has the potential to be either a flop like Bewitched was for Will Ferrell or something closer to the success of Elf. The movie seems to be targeting families with teenagers, based on the dinosaur action and gross-out humor, but no one under the age of 18 is going to be that familiar with the source material. Also, Will Ferrell hasn't had a lot of complete mainstream success with movies that weren't R-rated. I'm interested in the movie based on the Super Bowl trailer, and the idea of having Ferrell and Danny McBride riff off each other, but this could go either way, especially with Night at the Museum 2 only two weeks old by the time this is released.

Sean Collier: It's interesting that you mentioned Night at the Museum, Josh, as that's the film I would compare this to. Big but somewhat passe comedy star, fantastic setup, family-friendly; this was the formula for Night at the Museum, and it worked very, very well. Without Night at the Museum 2 stealing its thunder, I would've thought that Land of the Lost could've scored big with families, young teens, grown-ups without a taste for more raunchy comedies, even older moviegoers; as it is, I think it could go either way. I think it'll open around $35 or $40 million, and probably stretch it to about $100 million with good word-of-mouth, but fizzle out long before that if reviews are dreadful.





Pete Kilmer: This is a tough, tough call, in my opinion. I think it will be a huge hit, but it will be despite Will Ferrell. He's phoned in his last several performances so he needs this to be huge so he can still be a player. It helps that this is a super high concept kind of film (I really mean that). It's going to be a broad kind of action-kiddie film that is going to appeal to the old people who remember the show from the '70s and the kids who want to see dinosaurs.

Max Braden: This T-Rex reminds me of Brendan Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth, which opened at $21 million last July but managed to cross the $100 million mark. Land of the Lost looks like it could draw in the kids as well as adults, so $100 million should be no problem. I could see $40 million to open and $150 million to finish.

Jim Van Nest: Bah! Max got to this before I did and made the same comparison I was going to. Gotta be quicker. Anyway, my addition to that comparison is that I wonder if Ferrell might not take away potential box office on this one. By this, I mean that Brendan Fraser, while no huge draw or Oscar threat, doesn't really offend people. Most people can take him or leave him or they think he's a likable guy. Will Ferrell, on the other hand, is more of a "like him or hate him" kinda guy. Those that like him REALLY like him and those that don't will skip a movie just because he's in it. I wonder if the remake and family feel of this one can be strong enough to persuade people who can't stand the guy to get over it and come out to see this. I'm not so sure it can. I can see this one just crossing over the $100 million mark for the summer, but I'm thinking $35 million tops for the opening.

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