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Daron Aldridge: I am going with the consensus here that this is disappointment. The figure I saw reported for the budget was $70 million, so based upon David's total gross forecast, this will also be a disappointment in the long term. While this performance is sad, it is downright depressing that Rogen's Knocked Up costar and verbal sparring partner lately (Katherine Heigl) scored a better opening with The Ugly Truth. That one seems poised to outperform Funny People, which is a very Ugly Truth.

Max Braden: I'm not going to say I was expecting this range of box office, but to have expected Funny People to open huge I think would have been misguided. It's not nearly the high concept that sold Apatow's previous films. The death angle of the story is kind of a downer, and from the trailer all the actors looked like they were lazily shooting the breeze. Really, if you're going to call your movie Funny People, you really need to hit the advertising out of the park, but I think most audiences were underwhelmed by the trailer. (To me it was the equivalent to the He's Just Not That Into You trailer). And Sandler's name alone isn't going to turn everything to gold. $23 million is bigger than both Reign Over Me and Spanglish.

Sean Collier: Disappointed is an understatement, frankly. We've not yet mentioned that it opened essentially unopposed and that, discounting those wacky romances, the last big comedy is STILL The Hangover, and I think "devastated" is the word we're looking for here. There were enough genuine laughs in the film that if it had been marketed as a comedy and not as a quirky drama, they could have had a better result; Universal should be kicking themselves over their whole approach here.

Perhaps it really is finally time for that Opera Man movie

Kim Hollis: Do you see Funny People's performance as an example that Adam Sandler's star power is slipping and that Seth Rogen's has been exaggerated? Or is it an indication that people want less somber subject matter from this duo?

Josh Spiegel: If anything, I think it's somewhere in that latter suggestion. The one thing I keep reading about online is that the marketing for this movie failed. There are, of course, some people (prime example being me) who will see any movie Judd Apatow directs after hitting two big comedic home runs in 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. However, some people may have been turned off by the plot (as movies about Hollywood aren't often the most successful), or may have read about the lengthiness of the movie; also, if there's anything to be said against Sandler, it's that most mainstream audiences don't care for him unless he's being a goofy caricature. The dark stuff hasn't done very well for him at the box office.

David Mumpower: Examining each aspect of this, here are my thoughts. First of all, Seth Rogen is simply not a box office draw. He's a supporting player rather than an anchor piece, but he's very good in that capacity. We saw with Zach and Miri and reconfirmed here that he doesn't make many people more inclined to see a film, which is exactly what an opener would do. For Sandler, this is further confirmation that his audience remains loyal, but they vastly prefer him in Zohan/Waterboy mode to the Spanglish side. The unfortunate aspect of this is that his more serious work in Reign Over Me, Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and Funny People is all quite good. He has unexpected acting chops. It's just not what people want to see him do, much like John Wayne as Genghis Khan. He's semi-pleasantly typecast. With regards to the final question, it is readily apparent people want less somber subject matter from the duo. It is equally apparent that the key to all of this is that the trailers make people laugh. Funny People was always going to be a tough sell. That awkward Hans Gruber stuff in the commercials made it seem like any jokes in the film would be forced and awkward. It's too bad, really. This is exactly the type of more mature adult fare we should want to see counter-programmed during the summer campaign.

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