No eager crowds for The Beaver

MEL Gibson's long-delayed first movie since he was embroiled in a messy domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend flopped at the weekend box office in North America.

The Beaver, an offbeat comedy-drama directed by and co-starring his close friend, Jodie Foster, earned just US$104,000 (S$128,100) during its first three days of limited release in 22 theatres, its distributor said on Sunday.

Its per-theatre average of US$4,745 ranks at No 62 among the 139 limited-release movies tracked this year by Box Office Mojo.

Among recent prestige debuts in a similar number of theatres, Black Swan opened to an US$80,000 per-theatre average last December and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to US$9,900 in March last year.

The US$21-million film will expand across North America on May 20, coinciding with a screening at the Cannes Film Festival, said distributor Summit Entertainment.

Gibson, 55, stars as a suicidal businessman who finds salvation in a furry hand puppet he has salvaged from the trash. Critics were enthusiastic about his performance, pointing to eerie parallels between his character's alcoholic haze and the actor's own real-life problems.

"If you can get past your feelings for the troubled Gibson, you get to watch a high-wire performance of the highest calibre," said Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers.

Filming was completed more than a year ago, but the release was put on hold after audio tapes were leaked last summer of an angry Gibson threatening the mother of his baby daughter as their brief relationship hit the rocks. REUTERS