Robin Hood's prospects don't look merry

I'm predicting Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, which received a lukewarm reception when it opened the Cannes Film Festrival earlier this week, is going to be a gigantic financial failure.

The budget for the film was $200 million, so when you add marketing, the cost of prints, etc., the film needs to do a  box office of at least $300 million to break even. Let's see: Gladiator, the most successful product from the Scott-Russell Crowe tandem, netted $187 million domestic and $487 million worldwide. I can't see Robin Hood coming anywhere close to those numbers.

Had lunch today with my most accurate gauge of a movie's clout and he did not seem all that enthusiastic about the movie. When I asked him if he was going to see anything this weekend, he said "Well, if I bother to see anything, I guess it would be Robin Hood."