Success

I personally think it'll be a major step down in sales from its predecessor, similar to NES/Super NES - to N64. But it should still sell decently and have a strong enough library of games

when does the 3D movie store release? as in, when could i watch "how to train a dragon" on a 3DS?

It's extremely foolish to compare it to the Virtual Boy. Virtual Boy only even managed to ship 700,000 units. 3DS has already sold 3.2 million and numbers are still growing... during the slowest time of the year, with almost all of its absolute best titles still waiting to release.

it needs games and fast if it wants get going

it would be great if one of Super Mario or Mario kart came out before the holidays, to get a lot of interest going and then take off with the holiday release of the other

and the other games being released in the mean time (kid icarus, etc)

it seems very bleak for both gaming handhelds but in the gaming,it depends on the the following

Vita's release date,if this year then 3DS has a real problem

if VITA releases next year then 3DS has a chance.

I think the current batch of forthcoming games will be enough to raise 3DS' sales for a good time. And probably getting releases on a constant flow will helpo the console.
Still, for the successor of DS, Nintendo needs to do something more (important) than just bringing games to the core gamers. I think what would really help sales would be a meaningful redesgin in 3DS' aesthetics; something that separates it from DS Lite design. Other thing would be a 3D screen that allows it to be viewed no matter the distance and angle. The 3DS screen is a bit "fragile" in that regard. A sudden change and you are viewing 2 images.
Third thing needed would be games for the casual and non gamer crowd. Trying to repeat what DS did probably won`t help, as Nintendogs+Cats showed. If i`m not mistaken, sequels to games that appeal to those kind of gamers tend to not do so good - but i could be wrong.

I think that if Nintendo pulls this off next year than 3DS might take off.

I think the immediate future (through the end of September) is very bleak. A strong release schedule in Japan and Zelda in the West is keeping the weekly numbers where they are now, but the numbers are already back down in the West and in Japan the only thing left is Pokemon Scramble at the end of the month. I think there will be quite a few weeks where WW sales are less than 50k. The holidays will determine how well it does long term I think, if a new marketing campaign and the Mario titles aren't enough to get some real momentum going then I think the long-term prospects for the system are not promising.

I think the major reason 3DS isnt taking off right now is the lack of titles and the time of year. I'm pretty sure that Mario Kart 3DS and Christmas will bring a big boost to 3DS sales. When you think about it the next major entry the the Pokemon series hasnt even been announced yet. Mario Kart, Mario & Pokemon are sure fire ways to boost 3ds sales and we all know it's coming.

I actually see the future of the 3DS to be very bright. When games start releasing and new features are added the 3DS will pick up a lot of steam. 3DS will do very well this Holiday IMO.