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Edwin Davies: The only positive way to spin this is to say that it towers over the competition, but that's like saying Tom Cruise is tall compared to a child. Technically true, but also kind of disingenuous. This a very bad result no matter what way you cut it, though considering that it was delayed by almost a year and dumped in the first week of March suggested to me that an even worse result could have been in the offing. The problem, really, is that the whole "big budget fairytale" trend actually hasn't been that big of a thing. The only really successful examples have been ones like Hansel and Gretel, which cost relatively little so it didn't have to aim very high, and Snow White and the Huntsman, which just about earned its budget back thanks to having Bella and an Avenger on hand. The idea that you could take such a silly story, cast someone basically no one knows in the lead and throw huge amounts of money at it without something else to offer makes it seem like the studio was actively courting disaster in some Producers-esque ploy. Even if foreign totals are solid - which isn't a guarantee - I still think that someone is going to have to take a bath over this one, and probably think twice about greenlighting that gritty Little Jack Horner reboot.

David Mumpower: Since the first footage I saw of the movie, I've been thinking of it as Gulliver's Travels 2: Failure Boogaloo. Gulliver's Travels is the film I will always remember as being so awful that the cast of Survivor could not muster enthusiasm about watching it. And that group of people had been cut off from civilization for over a month. I thought the beanstalk movie looked even worse, which means that it has oddly surpassed my worst case scenario expectations. Jack the Giant Slayer's budget is a blueprint example of how frugality is not the mark of the industry in spite of what is claimed every time a much better idea gets rejected.

Kim Hollis: 21 and Over, a college drinking comedy directed by the guys who wrote The Hangover, earned $8.7 million this weekend. What do you think about this result?

Jay Barney: It was made for about $13 million, so this is a nice opening for a much smaller film than the Hangover. Remember, that film was a breakout surprise when it was released; nobody could have predicted the success it was going to have. An opening of almost $9 million ensures that the budget will be met somewhere around weekend #2, and after that everything is fine. It is not on my list to see, but enough people will.

Felix Quinonez: I think it's completely fine considering its budget but it's not really much to celebrate about. Also I don't think audiences will be asking for a sequel so at the end of the day it will make some profit but the movie will be forgotten about in a couple of months and no one's career will get a boost from this.

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