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I guess that means a Lidsville movie is out.

Kim Hollis: Land of the Lost, the latest attempt at '70s nostalgia cinema, opened to only $18.8 million against a production budget of $100 million. How big a bomb is this for Universal and where did it go wrong?

Josh Spiegel: It's about as big a bomb as the summer movie season may give us, I think. Universal can't be happy, but I can't say I'm too surprised at this outcome. Though the marketing for Land of the Lost was arguably equal to that of The Hangover (if not more), the fact that the film was rated PG-13, yet was somewhat marketed for families didn't help out. Even if the film had been rated PG, it would be up against Night at the Museum 2 and Up (which had a fantastic weekend of its own, let's not forget), in vying for the younger audience members. Also, but most importantly, kids don't know what Land of the Lost is. It was a cult show from the 1970s that aired 40-odd episodes; the only people who would know the old series probably weren't happy about the changes the film made. Add the bad reviews from critics, and you have a widespread disaster.

Scott Lumley: This is thermonuclear. This is Fat Man and Little Boy territory. This is as bad a result as Speed Racer posted last year, if not worse. The only people happy with this result are the production crew for Terminator Salvation, because they have just moved out of the lead for the Flop of the Year award.

Actually, going back and looking at the numbers, this EXACTLY parallels Speed Racer. Speed Racer opened to a $18.5 million opening against a $120 million budget. Land of the Lost opened to $19.5 million against a $100 million budget.

It's a shame, really. I wish Hollywood would figure out that special effects are the LEAST important thing in a Will Ferrell movie. If you put that man in an empty room with a coffee cup, a mop and a half empty bag of chips he could probably find a way to turn that into a $20 million opening all by himself.

Max Braden: That's also only $5 million more than what Love Guru and Semi-Pro opened with. Pretty lousy company. Plus it's as bad for Will Ferrell as it is for Universal.





Daron Aldridge: It somewhat feels guilty to revel in such a tremendous flameout but I never saw this one going anywhere, a la the aforementioned Speed Racer, for which this will be eternally compared. The nostalgia/kitsch appeal that people may have brought to it was betrayed by the updating that put it outside the "family film" arena. Simply, Universal seemed to ignore that aspect. Also, for something that costs such a ridiculous amount, it really felt "small" from the previews, aside from the T-Rex.

Reagen Sulewski: A big part of this was a wild miscalculation of how deep the fanbase was for this property. Anyone under 30 and over 45 was just going "huh"?

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