By Roger Friedman
Who knew? Who could have predicted? Certainly not the box office soothsayers. They all called Will Ferrell’s weekend comedy, “Semi Pro,” a lock for a $27 million average.
But now it looks like “Semi Pro” will be lucky to eke out half that amount. On Friday night, the flaccid comedy took in around $5.45 million in a very wide release — 3,100 theaters.
This isn’t good news for anyone, least of all New Line Cinema’s now departing chiefs Michael Lynne and Bob Shaye. “Semi Pro” was very well marketed, starting with a popular Super Bowl commercial and following through with an Old Spice tie in, all of which featured Ferrell.
