The expensiver they are,
the harder they fall

Sharon Waxman reports that the powers-that-be at Universal are scratching their heads about the failure of their Summer Movie Sweepstakes entry--Cinderella Man--to recoup half of its $88 million cost in two weeks of wide release.

Yeah, wow, great question, guys. Let's think about it:

--You plunked your June 3 release date square between Star Wars and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, two of the most eagerly-awaited films of the year. You went relatively head-to-head with The Longest Yard, a remake of a comedy that had a built-in audience from 30 years ago. Which reminds me...

--Lugubrious boxing dramas aren't exactly "summer fare," gang. The last successful boxing film to get a summer release was On the Waterfront in 1954, when Marlon Brando was about as bankable a star as there was--even moreso than Russell Crowe. Which reminds me...

--Your Oscar-winning leading man alienated your biggest market by chucking a phone at a hotel desk clerk. I can guarantee you more New Yorkers saw Crowe in handcuffs on the front page of the tabloids than watched (or even heard about) his Letterman mea culpa. Which reminds me...

--The movie is a sentimental, treacly piece of shit.

But who knows? Maybe Brian Grazer can pick Sumner Redstone's brain about the whole mess when he finishes humping him later this summer.