Although I had previously predicted that Warners’ might be exaggerating the tallies for Speed Racer in order to gain the box office’s second place position this last weekend–the figures widely reported on the Sunday and Monday morning news shows are estimates–things proved more dire than I had anticipated. What Happens in Vegas did indeed inch up (from the estimated $20 million to an actual $20.2m) into second place, but Racer‘s totals fell more than I would have thought, from an “estimated” $20.2m to an actual $18.56m, a nearly two million dollar drop. Given that Speed Racer a nearly 900 theater advantage over Happens, it’s even more embarrassing that the horribly reviewed romcom managed to rake in nearly a $1,000 more per venu than the cartoon-inspired action fest, which had an announced budget of $120 million (not counting advertising and prints costs), which some believe to be a significant lowballing of the true cost. Indeed, it’s possible that Speed Racer actually cost as much or more than Iron Man, which has made roughly ten times as much (admittedly through its second weekend).
In any case, the Wachowskis seriously better hope their next movie makes money. Here’s a hint: Don’t make another kid’s movie that last two hours and fifteen minutes. Unlike many, I don’t think the problem was that not enough people know Speed Racer. I think they just saw the previews and were generally unmoved. And again, people who have seen it tell me it is basically a kid’s movie, so again, why the hell would you make it two hours and a quarter. If they had shaved half an hour or more out of this, they might have had something.
