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Edwin Davies: I'm surprised, but only slightly. I expected that it would do pretty badly compared to its, er, illustrious predecessors, both because the previous film was released so long ago and because the years between installments saw the spoof genre get thoroughly beaten to death by the aforementioned Friedberg/Seltzer team. I did not, however, expect it to shoot under A Haunted House, which covered much the same ground without a supporting brand (other than the Wayans name, I suppose) to prop it up. I guess that film burned up most of the demand there was for hastily thrown together, broad horror spoofs. It didn't help that the ads for Scary Movie 5 were painfully, almost literally painfully, free of laughs, which is kind of a problem for a comedy. Like Spy Kids 4, this will probably just about recoup the costs incurred from production and marketing, but it's probably the death knell for the series unless they can start knocking them together for $1.5 million the way that A Haunted House was. There's no way a sixth film doesn't lose money if they keep throwing money at Charlie Sheen.

Max Braden: I was a little surprised to check back and see that this actually beat Movie 43. And Movie 43 had Ana Faris! Scary Movie 5 just looks like they threw stuff together (even more so than the previous films) and expected people to go because it's part of the franchise. I think this opening was all about rubbernecking a bad accident.

David Mumpower: I mentioned when A Haunted House was released that the timing was perfect for a horror spoof. In the interim, we have witnessed the release of another dozen of these cheap genre pictures. By the time Scary Movie 5 rolled around, even a parody of horror feels like too much horror. Saturation is an issue, and that is doubly the case with Scary Movie 5 as a horror spoof has already been done once this year...and it's only April. Finally, the presence of Sheen and Lohan smacks of desperation rather than cleverness. They are media whores who will do anything for money and attention. Nobody is going to pay to see people who show up on TMZ every day anyway. The Scary Movie name brand was sold out here, and the selling price proved to be quite cheap.

Kim Hollis: I have no idea why $14.1 million worth of tickets were even sold in the first place. Is there really that much demand still out there for this franchise? And why would anyone pay money to see a film with Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan at this point? Yes, this is a horrible result if we compare it to the Scary Movie franchise as a whole, but as a cynical cash grab, it’s doing way better than it deserves.

Kim Hollis: The Place Beyond the Pines, the film that reunites Ryan Gosling with his Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance, expanded to 514 locations and earned $3.9 million this weekend. What do you think about this total? Do you think it will get more attention or has it peaked?

Jay Barney: There is a lot of room for more positive attention, especially if the film continues to get good press. We will see how it does, but movie goers do have a tendency to notice the little films with a bit of a buzz. It is still early to make any predictions, but the expansion and attention from last week certainly helped it.

Brett Ballard-Beach: I am torn on this. It's gotten mostly rapturous reviews, but the dissenters are strongly against it. Gosling and Cooper add a fair amount of star power, but the plot focuses on how the sins of the father carry on to the son and the film runs 140 minutes. Reading some comments by Cianfrance, he has some very specific ideas about movie violence (he doesn't care for it being glamorized or trivializing death), which suggests this isn't a Heat-like action epic. Still, if it reaches a curious and thoughtful younger crowd, and an older crowd who might initially be a tough sell, I could see this pushing past $30 million.

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