The long Memorial Day weekend is not even offer yet, but it looks as though Terminator: Salvation will be coming up short at the box office.  Most movie experts thought it would be the number one movie this weekend.  It was not. Ben Stiller’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, made the most money, $53.5 million from Friday-Sunday compared to $43 million made by Terminator: Salvation.

What I find interesting about this is that both movies were panned by the critics.  I think what this shows is that people are more willing to go see a negatively reviewed movie if they are confident they will still gets some laughs.  If you’ve seen any of the commercials for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, you know that it has at the very least a few funny parts.  What does Terminator: Salvation have other than Christian Bale blowing stuff up?

Not that a movie needs anything more than that.

There’s also the fact that people will kids can take them to go see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian no matter their age. Even though Terminator: Salvation is rated PG-13 and not R, I don’t think it’s the type of movie most people will want to take their young children to go see. The fact is, people with young children can take their kids with them to go see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. If they want to go see Terminator: Salvation, they would have to find someone to watch their kids while they go watch Christian Bale kill robots.

Seeing Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is just easier.