• Ad Age, Tuesday, October 16, 2007 11:15 AM

Ben Stiller and the Farrelly brothers' "The Heartbreak Kid" managed only $14 million in North American ticket sales during the Oct. 5 weekend the film opened, a good $6 to $12 million below industry expectations. In fact, total industry ticket box office receipts were only $80 million, a whopping 27% below the same weekend the year before.

The culprit? Many film executives are convinced audiences stayed home to play Microsoft's "Halo 3," which went on sale Sept. 26. The game sold an astonishing $170 million worth of copies on its first day, before going on to sell well over $300 million.

For Microsoft, it's no wonder that video games--and in particular "Halo 3"-- are competing with blockbusters for opening weekends. "We marketed it like a film," says Josh Goldberg, a "Halo 3" product manager at Microsoft, adding that the game was promoted like an event film in terms of its partnerships. Beverage, automotive, fast feeders and mobile-phone companies all joined up.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »