This wasn’t the week to include the word “mighty” in your movie title. The blockbuster hopeful Evan Almighty, which cost a reported $250 million (another places report $175M, big difference) to make, whimpered in at just $32.1 million. Compare that with the $57+ million Fantastic Four made the week before on its debut and you can consider Evan a dud. The reviews definitely weren’t heavenly on this one and so I’m not at all surprised to see it fall short of studio expectations and hopes. I was very pleased to see 1408 do so well as I didn’t expect it to overpower Evan, but taking second (just by a hair) isn’t too shabby. This Stephen King short story adaptation was pretty entertaining even though it might not have been the scariest movie I’ve seen. The third and final new release, A Mighty Heart, barely squeaked into the top 10 in the final spot with a meager $4 million. The reviews for this weren’t too uplifting, which surprised me. It looked like it could be a pretty smart, well made movie, just not terribly exciting due to the subject matter. I’d still be interested in seeing it eventually on DVD. The rest of the movies actually all held their respective places from last weekend if you bump them down to pegs due to the new #1 and #2 movies. Kinda interesting. Now I can go ahead and start getting all excited for Wednesday’s early release of Live Free or Die Hard.

If you missed any of the background on the new releases check out our Weekend Movie Preview with trailers and details.

Box office earnings for movies this weekend, June 22 - 24, 2007:

1. “Evan Almighty” $32.1 million
2. “1408” $20.175 million
3. “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” $20.15 million
4. “Ocean’s Thirteen” $11.3 million
5. “Knocked Up” $10.6 million
6. “Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End” $7.2 million
7. “Surf’s Up” $6.7 million
8. “Shrek the Third” $5.8 million
9. “Nancy Drew” $4.5 million
10. “A Mighty Heart” $4 million

Perhaps that’ll put an end to the “Almighty” movies and a start to the renewal of Stephen King movies (there are already 2 remakes in the works).