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Jason Lee: I really think that this is just an "okay" result. Kids are clearly okay with watching animated films that edge on being creepy and scary - just take a look at the enduring appeal of the Nightmare Before Christmas and the phenomenal success of Coraline earlier this year. But I think what really knee-capped this film at the box-office is the fact that this movie not just eerie, but a big action-packed, blow-'em-up picture that simply will not draw typical animated film audiences.

Sean Collier: They tried to market this one to adults, but didn't try hard enough. Presented as a fantasy throwback aimed squarely at grown-ups with an appreciation for cartoons, they might've found more of an audience; as a kids movie, it's too dark and underpushed. Still, an entirely acceptable weekend for Focus.

David Mumpower: I see this as a relatively strong performance for such an odd project. This always reminded me of The Corpse Bride but without Tim Burton as a selling point. I had this thing pegged for a single digits opening weekend, and it has slightly exceeded that. It's at $15.2 million after five days whereas Corpse Bride managed $21.1 million in its first five days in wide release (it had a three-venue limited release the prior week). I certainly don't expect 9 to run as long or as well as that film did, but a $35 million result for a $33 million production so wildly ambitious and novel is solid.

It was probably the Lamda Lamda Lamdas

Kim Hollis: Sorority Row, the latest generic horror remake, opened to $5.1 million. What went wrong here?

Josh Spiegel: You could look to any number of reasons. There's the argument that people are exhausted from the one-two punch of The Final Destination and Halloween II. There's the argument that those two films sapped any interest people had in Sorority Row by just being competition. Also, when your biggest stars are Rumer Willis and Carrie Fisher (why, Princess Leia?), people may lose interest. Other than that, it may just have been audience malaise.

Reagen Sulewski: I think the biggest star was technically Audrina Partridge, but since most people wouldn't cross the street to spit on a cast member of The Hills, that probably doesn't help matters. In any case, stars have never been all that important in cheapo horror, but I think the problem here is that they didn't have much of a hook, or at least forgot to sell it. Audiences won't come out for "people dying randomly" - you've got to give your villain character(s) some personality.

Tim Briody: While this was never going to be a world beater, having some co-eds get brutally murdered probably isn't the best movie to release on September 11th. Just sayin'.

Sean Collier: The point about the villain is right. In low-budget horror, the villain is the star; witness the relentless promoting of Jigsaw for the Saw movies, even on the sequels in which Jigsaw did not appear. They should've made the killer more attention-grabbing in the marketing. Horror burnout is also clearly in effect.

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