“Evan Almighty” could be the first big-budget bomb of the summer after opening to $32.1 million in U.S. and Canadian weekend ticket sales, based on Sunday’s estimate from Universal Pictures.

The modern-day Noah’s Ark tale, starring Steve Carell, cost more than $250 million to produce and market.”

(Not to mention all the cash it cost to sponsor every Christian music festival for the whole summer, in an attempt to convince Christians that it’s a “Christian” movie.)

“Universal had been counting on the PG-rated movie — its most expensive production this year and one of the priciest Hollywood comedies ever — to be its summer “tent pole.” Now the studio and its financing partner, Relativity Media, are hoping it holds up well enough that they can come out unscathed. More broadly, the film’s poor opening could temper any enthusiasm in Hollywood for making expensive, overtly Christian films.

At least one box-office analyst called the opening “a disaster of biblical proportions,” but Universal kept faith.”

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