Heaven Help Evan Almighty

Apparently Evan isn't so mighty after all.

Evan Almighty, unofficially subtitled, "The Most Expensive Comedy of All-Time," earned a mortal $32.2 million in its weekend box office debut, Exhibitor Relations reported Monday.

The total was enough to put the Steve Carell vehicle atop the multiplex standings but not nearly enough to make good on its estimated $175 million production budget.

"It's got to be very disappointing for Universal," Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock said of the Evan Almighty studio. "This was expected to be the Second Coming, and it was not."

Meanwhile, Michael Moore's latest call to action, the healthcare-examining Sicko, looked no worse for having been leaked on YouTube, pulling in a healthy $68,969 at one theater.

Befitting its would-be blockbuster status, Evan Almighty played at 3,604 theaters. Its per-screen average, like its take, was far from epic: $8,655.

By comparison, the Adam Sandler comedy Click, which opened on the same weekend last year, averaged $10,673 on about 100 more screens for an overall weekend debut of $40 million.

Click didn't just make $8 million more than Evan, it cost about $100 million less to produce, according to various online sources.

Bruce Almighty, the 2003 Jim Carrey comedy which begat Evan Almighty, got even more bang for its studio buck. In its first weekend, the Carrey movie grossed $68 million, nearly making back its estimated $81 million budget in just three days.

To recap: Bruce Almighty grossed twice as much as Evan Almighty and cost about half as much to make. Said Bock: "That's as far from heavenly as you can get."

Evan Almighty's road to "The Most Expensive Comedy of All-Time" tag (or millstone, as the case may be) was paved with, according to a Los Angeles Times account last year, rained-out production days, a revved-up shoot schedule (Universal originally wanted the movie in theaters last Christmas) and the dirty business that is working with a bunch of animals.

A Biblical-inspired comedy, Evan Almighty concerns Carell's anchorman character from Bruce Almighty being directed by God (the returning Morgan Freeman) to make like Noah, build an ark and get busy zookeeping.

Reviews, like the articles about its budget, were generally not kind. "It's an almighty, humorless bore," went one (in USA Today). "It's limp and milky, a soft, dull little thing whose jokes hit with a dispiriting plop," went another (on Salon.com).

The success, or lack thereof, of Evan Almighty shouldn't leave Carell's big-screen career forsaken.

"This will not fall on him," Bock said of The Office star. "This is more [on] Universal. They're gonna take the heat for this one."

Evan Almighty is only Carell's second movie as the top-line star after 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell already has several more films in the can or in the works, including a theatrical version of the 1960s TV spy spoof Get Smart.

Elsewhere, John Cusack scored one of the bigger openings of his nearly 25-year film career with Stephen King's haunted hotel room tale, 1408. The flick scared up $20.6 million (second place), the biggest debut for a King adaptation—ever, per Box Office Mojo.

Last weekend's champ, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer fell—hard—to third place, with business down 65 percent. Its $20 million take pushed its overall gross to $97.5 million.

Ocean's Thirteen likewise neared $100 million, with another $11.4 million (fourth place) in the coffers. (It has taken in $91.1 million overall.)

Knocked Up, a comedy that only cost about $30 million to make, crossed the nine-figure mark, with $11 million (fifth place). Its four-week total of $109.3 million ought to help take the edge off the Evan Almighty angst over at Universal City.

Angelina Jolie's A Mighty Heart, the weekend's other major new release, didn't play so mighty, earning $3.9 million (10th place) at 1,355 theaters for a nothing-special per-screen average of $2,914.

Ending their summer runs in the Top 10: Kevin Costner's Mr. Brooks ($1.6 million; $26.7 million overall); and Spider-Man 3 ($1.2 million; $332.5 million overall).

Despite its opening-weekend theatrics—it bowed with a blockbuster $151.1 million—Spider-Man 3 looks to be on its way to becoming the web-slinging franchise's lowest grossing entry. The 2002 original took in $403.7 million; the 2004 followup, $373.6 million.

In limited release, Moore's Sicko ruled, although You Kill Me, the Ben Kingsley black comedy, and Broken English, the Parker Posey entry, acquitted themselves nicely. You Kill Me took in $233,709 at 37 theaters; Broken English, $55,198 at seven theaters.

Box office comparisons between Sicko and Moore's last entry, Fahrenheit 9/11, will have to wait until next weekend when Sicko goes nationwide. Fahrenheit was a surprise summer hit of 2004, opening at number one and becoming the first documentary to make more than $100 million.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on official Friday-Sunday studio tallies compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Evan Almighty, $32.2 million
2. 1408, $20.6 million
3. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, $20 million
4. Ocean's Thirteen, $11.4 million
5. Knocked Up, $11 million
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, $7.2 million
7. Surf's Up, $6.6 million
8. Shrek the Third, $5.7 million
9. Nancy Drew, $4.4 million
10. A Mighty Heart, $3.9 million

(Originally published June 24, 2007 3:32 p.m. PT.)