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Friendly correction: You omitted Crank.

It's there.. just up on the top line. That's a weak #1...averaged about $1200 yesterday... theatres must have been DEAD yesterday.

Any word on why Fox just unceremoniously dumped IDIOCRACY? You'd think an ad mentioning OFFICE SPACE would have generated 5-6 million.

Possibly because it sucks.

The die was cast on IDIOCRACY a long time ago, when Fox Marketing decided they weren't up to the challenge of selling Mike Judge's follow-up to OFFICE SPACE. It's not the most accessible movie in the world, but it's far from uncommercial.

This is pure speculation, but I have a feeling that Fox Marketing didn't appreciate being shown up by OFFICE SPACE's resounding success in every revenue window after theatrical, and decided to take out their displeasure on a movie that clearly needed some more work before it was ready for release. They're more than petty enough to pull a stunt like that.

No, it doesn't suck. It's just really really raw. And the overall relevancy of the film (more distrubing I'd say than the Al Gore film) tends to outweigh its big lack of focus. Terry Crews (the dad on Everybody Hates Chris) as a pro-wrestler turned American president could be Judge's funniest creation yet. His grandiose speech to "The House of Representin'" is a classic sendup of George Bush hyperbole.

If Fox were smart, they'd let this mini-release cool, cut a new trailer (yes, boasting "his first movie since Office Space") and push wide. It shouldn't be too difficult seeing how only die hard Judge fans are aware of the current release.

Variety hits the nail on the head:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931441?categoryid=31&cs=1

Glad The Illusionist is doing okay (relatively speaking). It's a wonderful adult film with a great Norton lead performance.

As for Idiocracy...

Well Office Space had a huge impact on my life and inspired me to get out of a job I hated and pull my own Peter Gibbons. It is never far from my TV.

But let's not deify Judge just yet. His work in general is wildly hit and miss and Idiocracy looks bad. I have to second guess any director that still thinks Luke Wilson can carry a movie. I'm sure he's a nice guy but movie star lead he is not.

I think the problem is that Office Space is the kind of movie that's easy to find an audience since so many people have to work ridiculous jobs and can relate to it (probably why NBC's The Office is so popular, too... I've had an office job exactly once in my life and it was almost EXACTLY like the show).... Idiocracy has a pretty off-putting premise and it sounds like it could be a disaster. I'll definitely rent it and watch it on DVD (since they were nice enough to not show it in NYC)... but I think the fact that it got a theatrical release at all is something.

"I have to second guess any director that still thinks Luke Wilson can carry a movie. I'm sure he's a nice guy but movie star lead he is not."

Not yet maybe, but he could be. Has anyone seen the extras on The Family Stone DVD? There's a Q&A with the cast and a live audience on there. While Danes, Mulroney and Mcadams say nothing of note and display no charisma at all, Wilson just completely rocks the room during the session - it's a shame that so few movies (maybe the Family Stone is the only one)have managed to capture the sly-dog charisma he displays there. I love Old School, but it's the Ferrell and Vince show really, i get the impression that Wilson has just been unlucky in some of the movies he's been in.

beerfest? idlewild?

i wonder how bad the plummet was.

Crank was quite possibly the worst film I've seen this year, and I saw Lucky Number Slevin, for God's sake. A shame, since the basic "can't slow down" premise wasn't a bad one, Statham can be charismatic, and Smart charming, but nothing works here.

As for why the low numbers, the SERIOUSLY nasty weather in the Northeast is probably affecting box office.

bad weather tends to be good for the video stores, bad for the theaters.

I find it slightly ironic that the idiots at Fox Marketing couldn't market a movie about idiots. Surely there was SOMETHING in there to market.

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