THE THREE MUSKETEERS

'Three Musketeers' Producer Constantin Film Disappointed by U.S. Bow but Not by Summit

2:44 AM PDT 10/24/2011 by Scott Roxboroug THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Summit Entertainment“Summit was and is an excellent partner in the release of this film in the U.S.,” says Constantin Film’s Martin Moszkowicz.

COLOGNE, Germany – Constantin Film, the German production company behind Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, says its disappointed by the film’s lackluster bow in the U.S. but insists distributor Summit Entertainment is not to blame.

Milla Jovovich Attacks Summit for Lack of Promotion on 'The Three Musketeers' Box Office Report: 'Paranormal Activity 3' Scares Up Record-Breaking $54 MilMusketeers, budgeted at close to $90 million, took in just $8.8 million in its opening weekend. Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 3 blew away all competitors in the U.S. market with a $54 million bow.

Musketeers star Milla Jovovich, who is also married to director Anderson, blasted Summit via Twitter this weekend, blaming the indie studio for not properly marketing the action-adventure tale.

But Constantin, which bankrolled the project, is having none of it.

“Summit was and is an excellent partner in the release of this film in the U.S.,” Martin Moszkowicz, head of film and television at Constantin, told The Hollywood Reporter. “We have no complaints at all with their marketing and promotion strategy.”

Moszkowicz said Constantin was “naturally disappointed” by Musketeers' opening weekend performance but was not going to start speculating over the reasons.

“The reason for the bad opening result was that not enough people went to the film,” Moszkowicz said simply.

Worldwide, The Three Muskteteers - which also stars Logan Lerman, Orlando Bloom and Christoph Waltz - has grossed more than $50 million and has still to open in Japan, a territory where Anderson’s Resident Evil films have done particularly well.

In Germany and Austria, where Constantin released the film themselves, Moszkowicz said the company was satisfied with the results.

“We are projecting a gross of $21 million (for Germany and Austria), which puts the film in the same league as comparable titles like Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes in those territories,” Moszkowicz told THR.

Constantin’s German release of Musketeers was accompanied by a marketing campaign “in line with similar big starts,” he added. Musketeers opened on Constantin opened on around 650 screens in Germany, a wide release for the territory. Its four-day box office return was just $3.4 million but the film has since earned around $16 million in Germany, its best performance in any territory so far.