Look at that, Paul’s a “movie director” AND a “political, social and religious analyst”. This article in the UK Guardian is supposedly about this weekend’s US box office standings. And it starts out that way. But get a load of this little quote:

The poor performance of the sequel predictably led to widespread declarations of a death knell for the subgenre in light of the current conservative American political climate.

“Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States,” Paul Verhoeven, director of the first Basic Instinct, told the Hollywood Reporter. “Look at the people at the top. We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends.”

WHAT?? Opening weekend of Basic Instinct 2 sucked ass because of Christian politics?? Anything erotic has been banned? What the fuck is up with that? It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with no one wanting to see Sharon’s beaver 10 years later, could it? Or, god forbid, the movie just plain sucking? BI2 was never even on my horizon as something to see. I prefer my erotica in story form. Or more explicit in film. Like Bound or Wild Things. I saw Slither (awesomely cool flick!) and will probably take the boys to see Ice Age. Still have to see V For Vendetta, too. Quite the Christian, Conservative collection there.

The top 10 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. are:

1. “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” Fox, $68,033,544, 3,964 locations, $17,163 average, $68,033,544, one week.

2. “Inside Man,” Universal, $15,437,760, 2,830 locations, $5,455 average, $52,508,055, two weeks.

3. “ATL,” Warner Bros., $11,554,404, 1,602 locations, $7,212 average, $11,554,404, one week.

4. “Failure to Launch,” Paramount, $6,463,434, 3,074 locations, $2,103 average, $73,088,790, four weeks.

5. “V For Vendetta,” Warner Bros., $6,295,358, 2,910 locations, $2,163 average, $56,659,439, three weeks.

6. “Stay Alive,” Disney, $4,506,719, 2,009 locations, $2,243 average, $17,280,614, two weeks.

7. “She’s the Man,” DreamWorks, $4,429,426, 2,552 locations, $1,736 average, $26,622,732, three weeks.

8. “Slither,” Universal, $3,880,270, 1,945 locations, $1,995 average, $3,880,270, one week.

9. “The Shaggy Dog,” Disney, $3,242,414, 2,929 locations, $1,107 average, $53,554,291, four weeks.

10. “Basic Instinct 2,” Sony, $3,201,420, 1,453 locations, $2,203 average, $3,201,420, one week.