Did the Master Chief Frag Movie Box Office?

Poor box office receipts have been blamed on a number of things (besides a bad movie, that is), including poor weather, natural disasters, embarrassing news for the stars, strong box office competition, etc. This is the first time we have heard a video game blamed for bad box office.

Halo 3 was officially released on Sept. 26th, and 1 1/2 weeks later, "The Heartbreak Kid," released to far lower receipts than expected: predictions had been for a $20 - 25 million opening weekend, and it only brought in $14 million. The receipts for that weekend were 27% below the same weekend the year before, according to research firm Media by Numbers. That's the movie industry's worst performance for an October weekend since 1999.

Movie executives are blaming it all on the Master Chief, which we all know is a mega-hit. But are they just saying this to save face?

Let's take a look at the weekend prior to the disappointing Oct. 5. Receipts for that weekend (once again by Media by Numbers) show a 9% overall drop from 2006, a 4% from for the top 12 films from the prior weekend, and a 12% drop for the top 12 films from 2006.

Hmmm, maybe they're on to something here. On the other hand, based on the IMDB rating of 5.7 for "The Heartbreak Kid," could it just be a bad movie?

Some execs are convince of the correlation, but in all honestly, they are still researching the data.

It's not unknown for movie studios to move opening dates because of a competing blockbuster movie (and of late, because of piracy); does this mean they will start looking at video game release dates as well? If so, execs, see April 2008, when "Grand Theft Auto 4" is due out.