"The Oogieloves In The Big Balloon Adventure" is not like ordinary movies. Aimed strictly at children ages 3-5, the newly released kids' film from Kenn Viselman, the man who brought "The Teletubbies" and "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends" to American audiences, is an interactive experience.
"Oogieloves" -- which includes cameos from stars like Chazz Palmentieri, Christopher Lloyd and Cloris Leachman -- "features visual and auditory cues which invite the audience to 'move' the action along, allowing parents and kids to interact not only with the characters, but also with one another," reported the Sacramento Bee. The problem? So few people attended "Oogieloves" on opening day that audience members were likely talking to themselves.
According to ERC Box Office, "Oogieloves" grossed $102,564 on Wednesday from 2,160 theaters. That gives the film a per-theater average of $47. Dollars. Should that number hold, "Oogieloves" could earn the distinction of having the worst wide-release opening weekend ever, topping such flops as "Creature," "The Virginity Hit," "Delgo" and "Proud American."
Of course, no matter how bad "Oogieloves" does this weekend -- where it will unspool on 2,200 screens, a Labor Day record for G-rated films -- it won't be as much of a washout as "The Worst Movie Ever!" As Movieline's S.T. VanAirsdale reported last August, that film earned $11 during its opening weekend -- which meant one person paid to see "Worst Movie Ever!" when it debuted at one theater in Los Angeles.
"I had a number of reactions at first," "Worst Movie Ever" filmmaker Greg Berggoetz told VanAirsdale. "I was flabbergasted at the number and wondered if it was possible that it was correct. [...] Then after the initial shock wore off a short while later, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be ironic if 'The Worst Movie EVER!' did the all-time worst opening weekend box office ever?' While I was certainly hoping for hundreds of people to turn out for the film, the irony is a bit too delicious."
Fortunately for Viselman, "Oogieloves" is already ahead of that pace. Whether it can top "Creature," 2011's biggest wide-release flop, is another story altogether.
For more on "Oogieloves," head over to Movieline.
