The Big Loss

As I struggle to move on from the final score of last night's Super Bowl (Chicago Bears 17 Indianapolis Colts 29)...The Motion Picture Biz feels my pain over the game but for different reasons:

Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo:

'The Messengers' [at #1 with $14.5 million] and 'Because I Said So' [at #2 with $13 million] led a weak Super Bowl weekend...

The mojo keeps-a-flowing...

Next up Ian Mohr of Variety:

Biz for most pics, whether wide studio holdovers or Oscar hopefuls, went slip-sliding away over the Super Bowl weekend as ticket sales dropped sharply from the same frame a year ago.

After winning the past six straight Super Bowl weekends at the B.O. by rolling out horror and genre fare, Sony succeeded again with the same strategy, taking the No. 1 spot with supernatural pic "The Messengers."

Movie -- from the studio's genre arm, Screen Gems, and production banner Ghost House -- led a soft frame at the movies overall.

"Messengers" scared up $14.5 million off 2,528 engagements for a per-location average of $5,736. A year ago, the studio's "When a Stranger Calls" dialed up $21 million-plus over the same frame.

Hoping to continue its scary winning streak, Sony has already slated slasher pic "Prom Night" for next year's Super Bowl frame.

While many Oscar films saw respectable drops in the 30% range, none were igniting the B.O. at a time of year when distributors really look to build biz for such pics.

A year ago, the gay-themed "Brokeback Mountain" roped in $6 million in its ninth frame during Super Bowl weekend. This weekend's best-performing Oscar hopeful was urban musical "Dreamgirls," which took in an estimated $4 million in its eighth frame.

One bright spot came for foreign-language fare: The distribs behind "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Volver" all had reasons to cheer as Paramount's "Letters" expanded with a slight drop and the other two pics earned their way into the B.O. record books.

Picturehouse's "Labyrinth" became the highest-grossing Spanish-language film released in the U.S., passing "Like Water for Chocolate" with a cume of $21.7 million.

Pic landed in the No. 8 spot after expanding to become the distrib's widest rollout ever, at 1,082, and reeling in $3.6 million.

And Sony Classics' "Volver," from Spanish helmer Pedro Almodovar, became the helmer's top-grossing film, taking in $885,012 off 587 screens to bring cume to $10.2 million, passing that of "Talk to Her."...

Trailing in second place was Universal's counterprogrammer "Because I Said So." Multigenerational chick pic, starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore, picked up $13 million off 2,526, scoring $5,155 per engagement.

"Messengers" and "Said So" repped the frame's only new wide releases.

Fox's "Epic Movie" -- last frame's No. 1 -- landed in third in its second frame, with $8.2 million off 2,840. Spoof of movies dropped 56% from its opening weekend and has cumed $29.3 million to date.

Studio's "Night at the Museum" stayed strong in fourth to bring cume to $225.3 million. Supernatural sensation, starring Ben Stiller, has been in theaters for seven weeks.

Overall, ticket sales dipped almost a full $10 million from a year ago among the frame's top 10 titles, down to $66.5 million...

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Michelle Kung has the weekend wrap-up for Entertainment Weekly:

The suspense thriller debuts with $14.5 mil, while Diane Keaton's ''Because I Said So'' settles for No. 2.

...Bears QB Rex Grossman threw a few interceptions and that cost the Bears the game...The boys started off great though... When CB Devon Hester brought the ball in for a TD on the opening play of the game Wow! ...The Bears were in it until half way through the 4th Quarter And Then The Dream Ended...This one won't be easy to forget...I end this post very disappointed and highly frustrated...

Read this spot on post game analysis from Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti for more...