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'Delgo' Greeted With Record Empty Seats

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posted: 201 DAYS 2 HOURS AGO

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(Dec. 16) - Think back to the weekend, fellow moviegoers: do you recall that lit-up sign above a screening room at your local cineplex that read "Delgo"? Hmm, it turns out there was an actual movie going on in there, an animated fantasy loaded with bona fide star power, a workable budget, and next to zero promotion.

"Delgo" could only muster $511,920 in 2,100 theaters -- that's an average $237 per screen, making it by far the worst opening ever for a wide release, according to Box Office Mojo.

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Producer Marc Adler reportedly shelled out $40 million of his own money to make the film -- in production since 2001 -- about a divided world on the brink of destruction and a group of adventurous friends trying to save it.

As is the case for any animated feature, the key to success is to secure a robust slate of well-known actors to voice the characters. Freddie Prinze Jr. plays the title character, and those other voices you likely didn't hear belong to Jennifer Love Hewitt, Val Kilmer and Michael Clarke Duncan, the deep-voiced hulk best known for his healing role in "Green Mile."

Oh, but the list of noted acting talent featured in "Delgo" doesn't stop there. Burt Reynolds, Eric Idle and Kelly Ripa were all involved, and sadly in her final role, the great Anne Bancroft, who died in 2005.

One could argue "Delgo" has locked down the top spot for worst wide opening for the foreseeable future. The previous loser was the 2007 thriller 'P2' with its $2 million on a hefty 2,131 screens.

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The reviews were brutal. Here's a sample:

The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis Too leaden for adults and too baffling for kids.

USA Today | Claudia Puig Thestory is tedious, noisy and banal. It is also rather dark andconvoluted for children, though it does have the familiar bombast of avideo game.

Los Angeles Times | Mark Olsen It says plenty about how torpid the storytelling in Delgo is that the end credits are probably the best thing in the film.

http://www.moviefone.com/movie/delgo/34945/critic-reviews

2008-12-16 13:55:39

Bauer-Griffin

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Mdvk

11:14 AMDec 17 2008

We saw it this past weekend as well and actually thought it was better than we'd anticipated..Not fantastic, but not hideous..MUCH better then Star Wars: Clone Wars!!

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Vegimorph

08:55 AMDec 17 2008

hmm. looks interesting. Maybe the makers of it could join with Dreamworks Animation to get a bigger kind of release and more awareness. It kind of reminds me of the animation at Dreamworks

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08:21 AMDec 17 2008

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Rolgstones

07:41 AMDec 17 2008

With a dismal poor opening weekend, look for this movie to be out on DVD within 3 weeks! LOL

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Hobbs850

03:04 AMDec 17 2008

hell of a place to come to meet people. seems desperate for a 19 year old. somebody needs to get a life.

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Acurrent1

01:38 AMDec 17 2008

So the 40 million was his money? Until I read that, I was thinking of "The Producers"

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Wadis Place

01:10 AMDec 17 2008

There was no promotion of it !! How can on hear about it?? There is a lot of sucky movies out there. Usually the Big Movie conglomerates will promote the shit out of a sucky movie in order to get thier movie back on the first weekend.

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IC9ER

08:47 PMDec 17 2008

The Blair Witch sucked. But it made plenty of money by being cleverly promoted. I never heard of this thing -- and I'm in the LA entertainment business. What is truly frightening -- it's been in production since 2001.

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HardingFRN

06:29 PMDec 16 2008

I think I heard of it but I can't be sure. Usually these films get alot more promotion and I can make my mind if I want to see it or not.

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StormyMusic1025

04:56 PMDec 16 2008

Gee, the company spends tons of money to make an animated film. Then they fail to promote the film for more than a couple of obscure commercials on TV. Most people don't even know the film has come out. Gee, it sounds to me like the company was trying to have this film fail. I wonder who exactly would get a pocketfull of money if it flopped. Makes me wonder...not to say the film was any good. Still, a lot of bad to mediocre films have some success when promoted.

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