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Edwin Davies: As the others have said, this is a perfectly decent result insofar as it staves off the stink of failure that could easily have enveloped the film after it was delayed and taken out of the Oscar race. In short, it could have been another Labor Day, but it narrowly avoided that fate. Why that happened can probably be put down to the effect of star power, which the film has in spades, and the fact that there isn't a huge amount out there for adult audiences at the moment apart from a lot of Oscar nominees that are looking a little long in the tooth, box office-wise. It also looked appealingly lighthearted, which is one of the problems most commonly cited by the reviews, but does make it seem like something that wouldn't be too heavy or demanding. Things could have been a lot worse for The Monuments Men, and it could crater horribly in the coming weeks for all I know, but for now, this is perhaps better than the worst-reviewed film of George Clooney's directorial career deserves.

Bruce Hall: It keeps the blood from hitting the water, but it doesn't stop the bleeding. Apparently I wasn't alone in finding the trailers amusing, but oddly offbeat to the point of mild discomfort. Profitability will be an uphill climb, but this result is akin to wrapping your car around a tree but still being able to drive it home. A disaster of sorts, but with a silver lining.

David Mumpower: What Bruce references has been the stumbling block in marketing The Monuments Men. There were trailers in 2013 that sold a certain tone. They were tinged with importance, a regular strategy for awards season releases featuring big names in the cast. Once the film was delayed into 2014, the advertising changed as well. The focus became the jocular nature of the cast yet the "funny" jokes were not individually amusing. Then again, judging by the hostile critical reviews and the B+ Cinemascore, there simply may not have been a lot to market effectively here. This appears to be a rare miss from the production duo of Grant Heslov and George Clooney. As such, an opening weekend of this level is acceptable bordering on good. As an aside, I learned more about the nature of making movies during Heslov and Clooney's interview with Charlie Rose last week than I would have if I'd spent a month on a set. If you can catch a rerun of it, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Kim Hollis: Vampire Academy opened to just $4.1 million this weekend. Why did no one matriculate?

Jason Barney: This one wasn't on my radar screen at all. I heard about it from one or two young women who had seen the ads and said they might go see it, but even they weren't that enthusiastic. I started doing a little bit of research, just to make sure I wasn't missing something, but stopped when I saw the poster. Wow. If something like this can be made into film, I need to start writing down some of my story ideas.

Felix Quinonez: I think audiences can sometimes tell when a movie is an obvious attempt to ride the coattails of a trend. There have been so many blatant attempts of recreating the success of Twilight that it's hard to tell them apart. When it comes down to it, Vampire Academy is just another failure to add to that list and in a couple of months, or weeks, no one will even remember it.

Brett Ballard-Beach: Jumping off from the word "matriculate", despite the fact that this was the first ever collaboration between brothers Daniel (Heathers) and Mark (Mean Girls) Waters, this was a would-be cult item that got Hudson Hawk and Ghost of Girlfriends Past-level reviews. The one or two positive reviews I glanced at suggest it may be of interest to some people, but it seems as if no effort was made to actually target those individuals via its marketing. Another stillborn YA movie franchise.

Edwin Davies: This was a film that I was vaguely aware of because there's been one poster up for it outside a cinema near me for months, but up until the last week or so, when the ad campaign started, I couldn't have told you when it was out, and I still can't tell you what it is actually about. I assume it's a campus comedy in which the students of Vampire Academy have to win a series of contests against their dreaded rivals at Vampire Tech.

Despite a solid pedigree in the smart teen film subgenre and a series that assumedly is reasonably popular (otherwise why would they make the film?) the studio didn't seem to have any confidence in this one, putting hardly any effort into pushing it. Either they knew they had a dud on their hands, or they looked at the broken pile of Beautiful Creatures and I Am Number Fours and realized that even if they had a film that could find an audience, it wasn't going to be the next Hunger Games, so why even bother?

Kim Hollis: I just couldn't even believe this movie was a thing. They actually showed previews along with Modern Family last week since Sarah Hyland is in the movie (synergy!), but it was so clearly lackluster and derivative. I was reminded of the Simpsons episode "The Book Job" where a team collaborates on a book about a Troll Academy. When they turn the book in to the publisher, it becomes a vampire school. I assume that this movie (was it based on a book? I can't be bothered to look) pretty much came about in exactly the same way.

David Mumpower: Stating the obvious, this is the latest disastrous attempt to recreate Twilight. They even stopped trying to be subtle and used actual vampires again. It still didn't work. Sometimes, I feel as if Hollywood could offer girls aged 12-17 $20 gift cards if they watch a tween literature adaptation, and they still wouldn't attend. They are that difficult to anticipate with regards to box office behavior, not including horror movies. I knew this movie was beyond redemption last week when they did a desperation ad during a new episode of Modern Family. Sarah Hyland, who appears in Vampire Academy, basically begged Modern Family fans to watch the movie. She looked like a hostage forced to film a video for her terrorist captors. Nobody would run that ad unless they were desperate.

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