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The issue instead is that the latest adventure of Toothless is behaving similarly to how Po did in Kung Fu Panda 2. Both films were successors to wildly popular projects that had glowing word-of-mouth due to their outstanding quality. In May of 2011, Kung Fu Panda 2 opened to $47.7 million, effectively matching How to Train Your Dragon 2 in terms of tickets sold after we adjust for inflation.

Is this a good enough result? The answer is absolutely yes. How to Train Your Dragon grossed half a billion dollars worldwide with “only” $217.6 million coming from domestic revenue. It was an unqualified success despite its hefty $165 million budget. The sequel costs less because the original film overcame a troubled production that added years to its creative process. So, a $145 million production with solid overseas potential is in great shape after a near-$50 million debut. None of us are questioning that.

The million dollar question is why such a wonderful franchise has witnessed so little expansion in terms of opening weekend gross. The awareness for the project was high enough that it was tracking as the clear number one project yet it wound up far short of 22 Jump Street. While some have maintained that the somber nature of How to Train Your Dragon 2 damaged the opening weekend, I am of the opinion that few consumers would have known about this issue and thereby avoided the film.

Instead, I have to circle back to the recent struggles of all DreamWorks Animation releases. This weekend represents the fourth time out of their last five releases that box office analysts have been left scratching their heads about a DreamWorks title. How to Train Your Dragon 2 joins the list with Rise of the Guardians, Turbo and Mr. Peabody and Sherman as a film that did well but SHOULD have done better.

Kim Hollis: Chef, the unheralded movie from Iron Man director Jon Favreau, earned another $2.2 million this weekend, making this the fifth consecutive weekend it has finished either ninth or 10th at the box office. So far, it has earned $14.1 million domestically. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: Chef seems like one of the really under-appreciated box office stories of the summer. It hasn't quite broken through in a huge way, but ever since it opened in limited release it has expanded at a gradual but significant rate, and each weekend has either seen big increases or steady holds. This is a pretty much perfect way of handling a small film that has a crowd-pleasing sensibility, akin to what Little Miss Sunshine did back in summer 2006, albeit to more modest results. I'm not sure how much more room it has to grow from here on out without a big expansion, but it's already done exceptionally well for a film that no one really seems to be talking about that much. It probably means a lot for Jon Favreau, too, if he wants to keep making smaller films, rather than returning to the kind of big-budget filmmaking that seemed to wear him down (and directly shaped the story of Chef itself). Even if he does go back to that kind of directing, the success of a personal movie on his terms would probably rejuvenate him more than signing on for another film with a nine digit budget.

Felix Quinonez: I think the result is just fine. There is really nothing bad to say about it but it seems that it's coming in just below the level it would need to break out. It's doing well but not well enough to get people talking about it or to justify any sort of big expansion. It will have a decent run and quietly leave the theaters, neither a hit nor a miss.

David Mumpower: I suspect that Felix’s opinion is the one held by most people, and that must be frustrating to all of the smaller scale filmmakers in the world. Because Jon Favreau has created mega-blockbusters, people are inclined to shrug off a title like this, a return to his roots. Nobody knows this now but Swingers earned less than $5 million domestically. Amazingly, that total represented a tremendous return on investment, at least theoretically, for a movie that cost about $200,000 to produce.

Favreau had not participated in a small project in a decade, so I understand why Chef would be appealing to him. He appeared on a recent season of Top Chef as a guest judge, his stated goal being that he wanted to research how lifelong food makers learned their craft. That sort of authenticity has shined through. It also explains why Chef has received glowing reviews while maintaining stunning consistency at the box office. The film has finished in either ninth or 10th place at the box office for 19 straight days. Nobody could do that if they tried.

We are discussing a film that opened to $3.6 million during its “opening” weekend that has a current box office tally of $14.2 million. It is not only a tremendous performer but also among the leggiest movies in recent memory. During its second weekend in wide release, Chef grossed $1.9 million; last weekend, that total was $2.2 million for its fourth weekend. Anyone working at a theater that features independent cinema knows just how steady and reliable Chef has been.

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