"A Mighty Heart" had modest opening · 2007-07-01 18:22
It was perhaps of little surprise that "A Mighty Heart" had a modest opening.
The film about the search for slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, which opened Friday, has few of the markers of a Hollywood blockbuster.
It is a distinctly low-budget affair, shot in a documentary style on location in India and released by Paramount Vantage, the art-house label of the major Hollywood studio, Australian Jewish News informs.
And though it stars beautiful Hollywood A-lister and tabloid princess Angelina Jolie as Pearl's widow, Mariane, her performance is restrained and understated.
So while other 9/11-related films have done comparatively well ??“ "United 93" and "World Trade Center" grossed $18 million and $11 million, respectively, in their first weekends ??“ "A Mighty Heart" grossed just over $4 million despite largely positive reviews.
It was shown in 1,300 theaters nationwide and finished 10th in box-office receipts.
"The film obviously has been a major box office disappointment for very obvious and predictable reasons," the film critic and radio host Michael Medved said. "People know how it's going to turn out. So it ends up being a semi-thriller with no suspense."
"A Mighty Heart," based on Mariane Pearl's 2003 memoir of the same name, covers the period between Pearl's capture and beheading by Islamic terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, in early 2002.
The film portrays the efforts of Pakistani police, Wall Street Journal reporters, and concerned friends and family to find Pearl.
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