No Evan for Japanese

Wow, I knew EVAN ALMIGHTY wasn't exactly a big hit but I didn't think it was that bad. Apparently it was bad enough that it won't even get a release in Japan. United International Pictures, the company that handles the release of Universal films overseas, announced that the planned September release for the film has been scrapped. Though no announcement was made it appears that the poor performance of EVAN in the US made it quite the risky proposition to market in Japan where Steve Carell is still a relative unknown (neither "The Office" nor THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN were released there). UIP recently ended its deal with Universal and is finishing up the release of the last films under contract. Rather than take a risk on a project that was likely to disappoint, the studio decided to just skip it altogether. So it's the most expensive comedy ever made and it won't even see the light of day in some countries. That can't be good. Luckily we here in America still have a new season of "The Office" to look forward to this fall.

Source: Variety

Extra Tidbit: BRUCE ALMIGHTY actually earned about $8.2 million in Japan though mostly due to the fact that the Japanese love them some Jim Carrey.