A tepid weekend at the box office saw viewers surprising ‘desert’ (ha ha) the well reviewed romantic comedy Fever Pitch, which was enervated by the surprising heat of Sahara, although it was a dry heat as the film drew only about $18.5 million. Still, the film was expensively produced for $120 million, and will have to draw strongly overseas to make a profit. However, it presumably will not be the disaster that the last film version of a Dirk Pitt novel proved, when 1980’s Raise the Titanic hit an iceberg of audience indifference, and the film, famously the most expensive film ever produced in Britain, sank the English film industry as a producer of expensive, Hollywood-style films.
Proving more a typical genre film than a breakout hit, last week’s box office champion Sin City dropped over 50% to reap a not so sinful $14.1 million. The odds of the film crossing the 100 million line seem pretty remote now, although it will undoubtably do well on DVD.
Any heated expectation for Fever Pitch broke as the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy drew only $13 million in its first frame, less than $4,000 a theater.
Every other holdover movie in the top 10 saw big declines, all of around 50% from the prior week. However, Vin Diesel’s ill reviewed The Pacifier did manage to stagger across the hundred million mark.
Better news from the small house market as the acclaimed Kung Fu Hustle danced its way to a high-kicking $293,00 from only seven theaters, more than $41,000 per venue. The film goes wider next week, and hope to continue Chow-ing down.
