Even with a big budget, name director and well-known cast, in its opening weekend Oliver Stone’s “W.” Bush bash only placed fourth at the box-office.

Giving Stone a bit of a dig, the Associated Press ribbed that “movie-goers elected a ‘W,’ but it was Mark Wahlberg, (star of “Max Payne.”) not George W. Bush.” The action movie “Max Payne” opened with $18 million to take the first place spot.

Stone’s flick took in $10.6 million from 2,030 cinemas, resulting in $5,197 a theater, a figure the A.P. called “unremarkable.” With a reported $25 million dollar production budget and another $25 million spent on promotion and advertising, “W.” still has a long way to go to be in the black.

In a previous review of the film, I explained that this was a movie made by Bush-haters for Bush-haters. (http://www.newsmax.com/hirsen/oliver_stone_bush_movie/2008/10/17/141491.html)

Since Stone’s last movie, “World Trade Center,” opened with $18.7 million and “W.” was released during a presidential election, box-office expectations were high.

Evidently, media reports were conflicted.

Variety claimed the $10.6 in revenue for Stone’s movie “performed on the upper end of expectations.”

The USA Today dubbed the same amount as having “met expectations.”

Entertainment Weekly semi-apologetically opined that the Stone flick “did well given all that it had going against it…”

The magazine claimed that the $10.6 million number was “not bad for a movie opening during tough economic times about a man whom many Americans blame for said financial strains.”