Burned Auds Cool Box Office

Wary audiences were cool to the new "X-Men" entry, "Hangover Part II" dropped like a rock, and 3D continues to be a problem for Hollywood.

Subpar "X-Men" sequels apparently kept some fans away from the well-reviewed and revived "First Class" reboot -- it posted a sub-"Thor" $56 million opening weekend, and posted the lowest opening number of the series. "Hang 2" lost a heaping 62 percent of its audience. "Kung Fu Panda 2" fared better in week two, but its soft-ish numbers for a big 3D roll-out show more 3D fatigue.

DreamWorks Animation chief Jeff Katzenberg said as much on Bloomberg TV this morning.

"...there is a lot of mediocre product in the marketplace," he said, and that's hurting "the perception of the product."

"Panda 2" drew only 40 percent of its audience from 3D. A year ago, the industry standard was 60 percent. That seems to part of a new pattern -- it mirrors the metric of the "Pirates" sequel.  FOlks don't want to pay extra, and they're tired of crappy/erratic presentation.

"Bridemaids" continues to be a runaway word-of-mouth hit. It dropped only 27 percent, and passed the $100 million mark.

Up this week -- JJ Abrams' "Super 8," and Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life."