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Kim Hollis: Total Recall, the 2012 reboot that attempts to convince people Colin Farrell is Arnold Schwarzenegger, opened to $25.6 million. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: This is pretty middling considering the $100+ million budget, which it almost certainly won't recoup domestically, and downright disastrous when you consider that the original Total Recall opened to the same amount 22 years ago when tickets were much cheaper. This suggests that enthusiasm for this film is virtually non-existent, as evidenced by the fact that its Friday was pretty frontloaded. When all is said and done, it won't be a complete loss, but this is a very poor start.

Jason Barney: $26 million has to be on the low side of what the studio was hoping for. I have to say I am a bit surprised at the low number as well. The trailers did look pretty good, from my opinion, and I know at least a couple of science fiction fans who were planning on going to see it. That said, it is obvious the film and the lead actor were not able to be much of a draw. From a timing perspective the numbers have to be almost put in the category of really bad. Dark Knight was floundering, and the last couple of weeks have not had many action or science fiction related films. I get the sense this should have been much bigger. Don't know if it should have been #1 this weekend, but $26 million is not great.

Felix Quinonez: I actually wanted this to do a lot better. I've always liked Colin Farrell and I thought the trailers looked pretty good. I'll admit I don't remember the original as fondly as a lot of people. Maybe I was too young but I remember being kind of confused when I saw it all those years ago. But considering the budget and the fact that it barely beat the opening of the original (with the help of 22 years of inflation), I'd say calling it a disappointment would be very generous.

Matthew Huntley: Looks like we're all in agreement that $26 million is simply too low of an opening for a movie that reportedly cost $150 million to produce. The question I have is, why did it open so softly? I was expecting at least $35 million because, like Felix, I thought the trailers and advertising were pretty slick and updated/differentiated the movie enough from the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger-Paul Verhoeven actioner to raise people's interest, but we're obviously in the minority on this.

Should Colin Farrell be blamed? I don't think so, because the former bad boy has actually gained a lot of respect the past few years with movies like The New World, Crazy Heart and In Bruges. It can't be the females, because Kate Beckinsale and Jessical Biel are hot right now. So everything about this movie made it seem poised to open big and become another formidable blockbuster (or at least more formidable than its opening would indicate). Only after this weekend are we learning the movie might not be that good (I personally haven't seen it yet), but given that remakes tend to do fairly well (even though no one is really asking for them), I can't help but be dumbfounded by Total Recall's performance. Maybe it's the Olympics still going strong or moviegoers simply being action movie'd out. Given TR's numbers, though, I'm curious how the new Bourne installment is going to perform next weekend.

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