Halo 3 hurting box office take?

Is video game blockbuster to blame for movies' box office shortfall?By Mike Smith

Could the release of Halo 3 be behind October's underperforming box office numbers? That's the suggestion made by industry journal Advertising Age. In a Monday article, the publication linked Ben Stiller flick The Heartbreak Kid's disappointing first-weekend take of $14 million to the release of Halo 3 the previous week.

September 25, Halo 3's launch day, saw the game haul in a gargantuan $170 million, more than doubling the October 6-7 weekend's total box office take of $80 million -- the lowest October weekend since 1999. According to Advertising Age, execs at Paramount are investigating the possibility of a correlation.

Ben Stiller's next movie, an adaptation of Scott Smith horror bestseller The Ruins, is due to release on April 4, 2008. Cruelly, this stands a significant chance of sharing the stage with what's expected to be the biggest video game release of next year: Grand Theft Auto 4.