There are indications based on early returns that the summer movie season’s anticipated second blockbuster is anything but a blockbuster.

By the end of Friday, “Speed Racer” was in third place, behind last week’s champ “Iron Man” and the poorly reviewed Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz romantic comedy “What Happens in Vegas.”

If those results hold true for the rest of the weekend, we may talk about ”Speed Racer” in future discussions in the same breath as the infamous dud “Ishtar.”

In that 1987 film, Elaine May directed Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman into Hollywood immortality. Only in a really bad way.

“Speed Racer” cost at least $120 million to make, and you can add at least $40 million more to market it. That’s gotta hurt when the first weekend brings in less than $30 million.

And it’s only going to get worse, as some genuine blockbusters are coming in a hurry, including “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

That doesn’t give “Speed Racer” any time to breathe or find an audience. In this summer of big movies, you either hit the checkered flag the first weekend, or you hit the wall. 

Here’s one of the problems:

http://barry.freedomblogging.com/2008/05/07/is-speed-racer-too-long/

Posted in: Weekend box office |

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