Sith Opens To Rave Reviews, Lackluster Box Office

by christopher taylor

NICASIO, CA--George Lucas's sixth installment in the "Star Wars" series, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, opened on 3,661 screens nationwide today. The critical buzz surrounding the film is mostly positive; a considerable feat considering the harsh pans the last two films received. But the darker subject matter, the disappointment fans felt in Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, the short attention span of today's youth, the PG-13 rating, and the positive reviews themselves are likely to cause disappointing ticket sales, according to some analysts.

"Lucas waited too long," suggested box office guru Curt Henderson. "No one wants to see 'Star Wars' films anymore. At least not for another decade or so, when the nostalgia factor kicks in."

"I love the movie," film critic Steve Bolander quipped. "But I don't even expect Sith to be number one this weekend. It doesn't have the mass appeal of Lucas's earlier work. I figure either Monster-in-Law will hold on to its top spot, or else Paul Schrader's Dominion will dark horse its way up. If Sith takes more than $15M for the weekend, I'd be very surprised.

"What Lucas here has made is an art film," explained Twentieth Century Fox VP of Marketing, Bob Falfa. "He'll have some success based upon name recognition. But look what happened to Soderbergh when he made Solaris. How many people who loved Erin Brockovich and Ocean's Eleven went to see it? Couldn't have been many. It ended up losing money, even after international release and DVD sales. If we had known Lucas intended to indulge his creative spirit on this one, we never would have advanced him all those millions of dollars. Oh well. I guess we'll make up the loss on The Transporter 2 and Big Momma's House 2."