US box office suffers season-opening slide

LOS ANGELES - The lucrative northern summer movie season has suffered its worst start in years, as the costly Crusades epic "Kingdom of Heaven" crawled into the No. 1 slot at the North American weekend box office with meagre ticket sales of just US$20 million. 

The film, which cost nearly US$150 million to produce, stars Orlando Bloom -- "Hollywood's No. 1 pretty boy", according to Rolling Stone magazine -- as a humble French blacksmith who takes on the Arabs during the 12th century. 

It was directed by British filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott, who had better luck with such films as "Gladiator" and "Hannibal," and released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. 

Industry hopes that "Kingdom" would pull the business out of a lengthy slump were dashed: the box office has now endured 11 "down" weekends when compared with the year-ago periods. According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, this ties the longest losing streak, which ran from July to October in 2000.  

"Kingdom" also marks the weakest movie to kick off summer in the eight years since Hollywood decided to move the busy season two weeks earlier to the start of May from the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The studios make nearly half of their box office revenue during the summer.  

But Fox was enthusiastic, noting that "Kingdom" has a lengthy running time of nearly two and a half hours, while its "R" rating restricts access to youngsters. The studio said two-thirds of the audience was over 25, not exactly the demographic targeted by Hollywood at this time of the year.  

"Twenty (million) is very, very good," said Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of domestic theatrical distribution. "I'm delighted."  

The film also grossed about US$56 million overseas, after opening in nearly 100 markets, mostly at No. 1, he added. 

Opening at No. 2 in North America this weekend was the horror remake "House of Wax," which earned a modest US$12.2 million. The Warner Bros. Pictures release was budgeted in the mid-US$30 million range.  

"I was certainly hoping that we would maybe do a little bit more," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Time Warner-owned studio.  

The film's main attraction is a striptease by ubiquitous hotels heiress Paris Hilton, although many people have already seen her in a notorious homemade porn movie.  

Two films tied at No. 3 with about US$9.1 million each: last weekend's champion, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and the new ensemble drama "Crash".  

"Hitchhiker's", a Walt Disney release based on late novelist Douglas Adams' sci-fi satire, has earned US$35.1 million after 10 days, having cost about US$50 million to produce. 

"Crash," whose cast includes Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock, was released by Lions Gate Films, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment.  

Rounding out the top-five was the spy thriller "The Interpreter," down three places with US$7.5 million. The Sean Penn-Nicole Kidman vehicle has earned US$54.1 million after three weekends. It was released by Universal Pictures.  

The next big release, which Hollywood hopes will end the losing streak, is "Star Wars: Episode III -- the Revenge of the Sith" which Fox releases on Thursday. The final installment of George Lucas' sci-fi fantasy series, which explains how the villainous Darth Vader crossed over to the dark side, is already drawing some decent early reviews.  

- REUTERS