The car racing movie seems to be running out of gas at the North American box office as it debuted second to its strongest competition 'Iron Man' making less than half of the latter film's earning.
- May 12, 2008
AceShowbiz - Being released a week after "Iron Man" theatrical debut proved to be a huge disadvantage for the big-budgeted car racing movie "Speed Racer" as the Wachowski brothers' film only managed to finish second to the Marvel's adaptation film. To make matter worse, the family adventure movie presented the first flop of 2008 summer movies at this three-days weekend box office which ended Sunday, May 11 by grossing merely $20.2 million, less than half of its original prediction, in its opening weekend.
Leaked words on the reasoning of the film's box office failure are that its PG rating hurts the sales badly. The targeted audience which supposedly should be kids aren't familiar with the 1960s' Japanese animation series "Mach GoGoGo" the movie is based on, while the older audience who grew up with the cartoon and excited with the film are said to be scared away by the given rating. Other possible cause put out is the lengthy running time. Timed at two hours and fifteen minutes, "Speed Racer" is considered too long for a family adventure film, especially for the kids.
Following reports on the North American box office, it is further speculated that the film about a young and talented Speed Racer who is born to sit behind the burning wheels of racing car may have experience another upsetting result from the international sales though report on the latter matter is yet certain. Additionally, there is a slight chance that the film starring Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon may slip to the third spot by the time the exact box office tally comes out as the current third spot sitter, the 20th Century Fox's comedy "What Happens in Vegas...", is hot on Racer's tail with the earning of about $20 million.
Meanwhile, striking its second week success of nailing the top box office slot, "Iron Man" continues its glorious domination with an estimated $50.5 million. With the additional revenue, the Jon Favreau-directed film starring Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow has collected an impressive total of $177.1 million. Aside from the superhero tidbit, the last two top five positions go to "Made of Honor" with $7.6 million and "Baby Mama" with $5.8 million respectively.
