That sound you hear is every single straight man in America saying "No thanks, I'll wait for Cinemax."

Ice Age: The Meltdown may be set millions of years ago, but it was Basic Instinct 2 that looked like a relic from another era. The long-gestating sequel to the 1992 thriller that made Sharon Stone's career seduced only an estimated $3.2 million from 1,453 sites. In terms of number of tickets sold, that's about an eighth of the opening of the first Basic Instinct, a smash in its day that evidently did not resonate through the years. The success of The Silence of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal, after a 10-year wait was an exception—unless they're iconic, thawing out franchises after more than four years generally leads to sizable drops in grosses.

I'm going to say "ouch" for Ms. Stone. When your film is sold almost solely on the promise of seeing you in the buff, and a nation decides "Eh. We've seen it."

...Well, I'm guessing that must be one cold splash of water.

I'm guessing Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas have had a happy conversation about this, too.