Gibson's The Beaver falls flat at Box Office debut

Director Jodie Foster's latest venture The Beaver, which stars Mel Gibson in the lead, has fallen flat at the Box Office in its opening week. The movie was released in 22 theaters in the first week and and it has grossed just $104,000. Summit Entertainment has now decided to go for a new release strategy in the coming weeks.

The Beaver is all about a troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating. The movie has been rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, some disturbing content, sexuality and language including a drug reference. But it has had lot of publicity that most arthouse films will not have.

Summit Entertainment was hoping for a per-screen average in the $15,000 to $18,000 range. But the per-screen average is said to be only $4,745. “I think people will try to read into these numbers and say it is a repudiation of Mel, but I don"t think that"s true. The film is a tough sell," The Hollywood Reporter quotes Summit executive Richie Fay as saying.

The Beaver has done its biggest business in Los Angeles and has seen its lowest grosses in Washington DC, Boston and Chicago. The THR reports that following its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Summit is planning to take the movie into additional US cities on May 20.