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Felix Quinonez: It's not terrible but it's definitely not a hit. I agree that it was a bad release date. Thanksgiving weekend seems like a terrible choice for this, especially since it was a crowded weekend. But I think it should also show studios that just because a movie makes money doesn't mean it justifies a sequel. I mean the first Horrible Bosses made a lot of money but it wasn't really a memorable comedy that people were quoting. I think people enjoyed the movie enough at the time but I doubt audiences were demanding for a sequel for the last three years.

Brett Ballard-Beach: I disagree about the release date being a factor. I think HB2 falls into the subset quirk of "sequels that nobody was really asking for - from an audience standpoint – “to successful but not necessarily beloved movies.” I always use Analyze This/That as an example. The earnings were $106 million for the former and $32 million for the latter. One article I read suggested that an initial idea for the sequel was that Bateman et. al would have become the new Horrible Bosses which may have been dicier commercially speaking, but if they pulled it off could have led to better reviews and more positive word-of-mouth. In the end, that could have pushed HB2 a lot closer to the first film's gross. A drop-off of at least 50% seems on-target here (from $117 million to $58 million).


Kim Hollis: I’d agree that release date probably shouldn’t matter all that much here. If people wanted a sequel, they would have showed up. I’m actually a little bit baffled by this result, because I laughed every time I ever saw a commercial for Horrible Bosses 2. At almost everything in every ad. And yet I didn’t see the film this weekend, so I guess I’m part of the problem.

David Mumpower: I too thought the ads looked great yet I have yet to watch the movie. To a larger point, most of you give more benefit of the doubt here than I do. Sequels are supposed to open better than their predecessors. Horrible Bosses 2 has earned approximately 60% of the first film during its first week, and that number includes holiday inflation. The first film grossed $117.5 million; the sequel is unlikely to garner half that amount. Even if the budget is small, there is a tremendous financial hit here in terms of opportunity cost.

Kim Hollis: The Imitation Game got started in four theaters with a total of $479,352. Between this, Birdman and The Theory of Everything, which one do you think is the current Oscar front-runner? Or do you think it's something else?

Edwin Davies: I think that all three are pretty strong contenders for Best Actor, but Birdman is probably too weird to be a contender for Best Picture. (It probably has the strongest chance of winning Best Actor, though, because Keaton is such a beloved figure and his comeback makes for a nice story.) It's hard to say for certain whether the other two will be able to last the long haul since Selma, which has received pretty rapturous responses from those who've seen it and has attained a great deal more relevance in the wake of the Ferguson verdict, has not been released and so hasn't had much chance to make its presence known. Currently, I'd say that The Theory of Everything has the slight edge over its opponents, but all three of those films should land a Best Picture nomination if they have use the 5-10 nomination system.

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