Halo 3 Triggers Worst Box Office October in Eight Years?

What a bunch of comedians. First, I read a story at GamePro about film executives pinning the blame for the "worst [box office] performance of an October weekend in eight years" on Halo 3. Next, I check Yahoo for wide release movie reviews and correlate them with the latest box office numbers.

Let's see. We have the conspicuously unnecessary Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which almost every sensible critic either yawned over or rejected entirely, debuting at number six ($6.1 million). The Final Season, a small town baseball drama, did much worse both critically and financially, debuting in twentieth place with a pitiable $664k. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married played slightly better with the critics, debuting in first place with a handsome $21.3 million (though not a chance it's baiting the hardcore Halo 3 demographic), and finally, We Own the Night, which received the best all around reviews, was consigned to third, pulling a paltry $10.8 million.

So with the possible exception of the latter, billed as a "drama and crime/gangster" flick, I'm thinking those Halo 3 gamers = not hitting the movies this weekend, with or without a compelling video game to play. In fact let's just pretend video games don't exist -- I don't see that affecting box office returns this last weekend one iota.

But hey, way to go film execs. You get bonus points for pinning the tail on the scapegoat. Very inspired. Oh yeah, you'll want to take a number. The "blame video games for [insert anything you like here]" line starts all the way out the building and down the block.

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