While no one expected Punisher: War Zone to be Oscar material, Lionsgate certainly hoped it would open better than it did this weekend.  The film, which received fairly uniform negative reviews, took in a mere $4 million, good for ninth place.  It was, though, the best performance for a new film this weekend, beating Cadillac Records by $500,000 according to Box Office Mojo’s estimates.

The preceding eight spots belonged to returning fare with the romantic comedy, Four Christmases returned to the top spot with $18,180,000 and $70.84 million after two weeks. Second place went to the vampire romance Twilight which found another $13, 197,000 revenue from the tweens.  Younger kids continued to thrill at Bolt’s adventures which saw an additional $9,696,000 in ticket sales.

For adults, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman defied the critics and lured people to see Australia to the tune of $7 million, good for $30, 869,00 after two weeks.  Daniel Craig’s second turn as James Bond didn’t fare as well, with Quantum of Solace taking fifth place but losing 65% of last week’s audience and bringing home just $6.6 million.

Punisher’s per screen average of $1595 was anemic compared with more than twice that of the top performers. 2004’s Punisher actually opened much better with $13,834,527 and given the growing appetite for super-hero movies, the sequel’s dismal performance is a black mark for Marvel.

Lionsgate will be praying for a Christmas miracle and a stronger opening for the more heavily hyped Spirit film from Frank Miller on Christmas Day.  Marvel’s next offering is next May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine which should have a huge opening.

The acclaimed anime Akira will make its Blu-ray debut on February 24 according to Bandai Entertainment. Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 science fiction tale will receive the deluxe treatment.

The disc, coming from Bandai’s Honneamise label, will retail for $49.98 and include both Japanese and English subtitles along with the English dub track, but purists should really enjoy the Japanese track, which will be presented in state-of-the-art 192 kHz 24-bit Dolby TrueHD 5.1ch sound. 
 
The initial pressing of the Akira BD will include a slipcase and a 32-page booklet.  Extras on the disc include two teasers, two trailers, a TV commercial and Otomo’s complete storyboards for the film.
 

The New York Comic Con has announced that it will honor artist Al Plastino, inker Joe Sinnott, and writer Marv Wolfman as “Living Legends” at the 4th annual New York Comic Con, which will take place from February 6-8 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.  All three Living Legends will participate in convention festivities and make limited appearances at select panel discussions and autograph sessions.
 
Al Plastino, who was born in New York City in 1921, began working in comics as an inker and penciller during the “Golden Age” of comics in the early 1940s.  In addition to inking Captain America and Sub-Mariner, he drew Green Lantern, Rocketman and Dynamic Man.  After WWII, Plastino joined DC Comics where he helped to develop Superman spin-offs such as Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes with writer Otto Binder.  In the late 1960s he began work on a succession of syndicated comic strips including Batman, Nancy and Sluggo, and Peanuts.
 
Joe Sinnott has worked for Marvel Comics for 58 years.  He is perhaps best known as Jack Kirby’s inker on the Fantastic Four, but he has enlivened a host of Marvel characters over the years and currently inks the Spider-Man newspaper strip.
 
Marv Wolfman, who is at present working on the DC online MMORPG with Jim Lee, was born in Brooklyn in 1946.  He has written comics, movies, TV shows, animation, and children’s books, and won numerous awards for his works.  Among his most famous creations are Blade and the New Teen Titans.

Al Gough and Miles Millar are experienced writers and producers but now will make their directorial debut on Disney’s Salisbury from their own spec script according to Variety.

Since leaving Smallville, they have been active including signing a first-look deal with Disney, where they just produced Hannah Montana: The Movie for the studio.  They also wrote draft scripts for Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. They are at work on a movie based on the Jungle Cruise theme park attraction. For Warner, they are adapting Robotech for the big screen.

Salisbury is the name of a fictional town where the story takes place but the studio is keeping the plot to themselves after acknowledging there will be supernatural elements. The projected budget is $40 million with casting about to begin. Production should begin in 2009 with a 2010 release date anticipated.