So it came to pass that, indeed, Sam Jack‘s Lakeview Terrace was the big hit at the box office, pulling in higher numbers than expected.

That would be the good news.

The bad news is that it was only expected to top out at fourteen million, and it in fact managed to pull down just a bit under sixteen million. Meanwhile the rest of the flotsam included stinkbomb My Best Friend’s Girl, which opened at No. 3 with $8.3 million; the low-rent cartoon Igor was No. 4 with $8 million; and Ricky Gervais’ obscure lousy hybrid comedy Ghost Town was No. 8 with $5.2 million.

The Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading managed to hold number two.

This means that the combined take from the top five movies together couldn’t clear fifty million.  Now, to most of us, this sounds like an unbelievable weekend until you understand the scope of Hollywood.  To Hollywood, fifty million dollars is a disaster.  See, that sixteen million that Lakeview Terrace took in SOUNDS fantastic…until you consider it took twenty TWO million to make. So basically, as of right now, the number one movie in America is still paying off its mortgage.  Oh, sure, by next week it’ll probably be in the black, but the same cannot be said for Dane Cook disasterama My Best Friend’s Girl, which may have brought in eight million, but cost an unaccountable FORTY FIVE MILLION to make!

That means that, assuming it repeats this performance (and it’s a pretty reliable guess that a movie will NEVER make more than it does opening weekend), it’ll take until about Halloween for My Best Friend’s Girl to make its budget back, let alone see profit.

This is still more bad news for an already beleaguered Hollywood.

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