This morning's box office returns are discouraging not because Body of Lies came in where it did, but because Jeff's Chihuahua Theory was proven true by people wanting to plow in and see "The Chihuahua Movie" they missed the week before, or, god forbid, decided they needed to see twice theatrically.

The not-screened-for-critics Quarantine came in a respectable second. The movie was directed by Eric Dowdle, who made The Poughkeepsie Tapes, which neither my wife nor I could sit through during last year's Butt-Numb-a-Thon and is still floating in release purgatory.

The real loss is the fact City of Ember's 10th place standing translates in studio terms to "no sequel, no way." I have read a couple bloggers' stories mentioning "movie jail" potential for director Gil Kenan or otherwise dismiss the movie as "pretty design, nothing for me." Speaking to the first point, you guys can fuck right off. As for the latter, I can't count on my hands and feet how many absolutely terrible, no-redeeming-value kid/tweener movies come out every year. That the same folks who brush this movie off as they would one of those don't go after the throat of the Chihuahua movie astounds me.

I'm honestly more disheartened at the prospect we won't see this series completed cinematically. Though something of a negative at the end of this "first" flick for myself and others, the fact you want more isn't entirely a bad thing. What I constantly remind myself of is that as a "general public" viewer, I don't see movies in press screening audiences of less than five, and it's more of a "happening." I think the gorging nature of the industry these days, plowing from buffet to buffet of junkets and press screenings is too often leading to writers who act as advocates for this medium the undoers or "shitters-upon" of the medium they love so much.

This isn't to say I think the movie is perfect, please do not misunderstand me. One of the themes of Hellboy comes to mind in that often what you truly love about someone (or some thing) is its inherent flaws.