'Speed Racer' opening on a crowded track

The stakes in the industry's most competitive moviegoing season are high for all Hollywood studios, which spend heavily to sell their their big-budget popcorn titles around the world. This summer, the risks are particularly steep for Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. studio, which has hundreds of millions of dollars riding on three major releases: "Speed Racer," the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight," and a big-screen adaptation of the 1960s sitcom, "Get Smart."

And "Speed Racer" by far is the riskiest of them all.

Warner and its financial partner Village Roadshow Pictures committed about $250 million to make and market a hopeful blockbuster: A "family friendly" pre-sold concept based on an iconic 1960s cartoon show, written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski -- the filmmakers behind the studio's hit "Matrix" movies -- all under the guidance of their collaborator, Warner producer Joel Silver.

Yet, despite one of Warner's most ambitious global marketing campaigns and consumer products programs ever -- which includes 220 licensees and 53 promotional partners -- the studio's sales pitch has gained little traction with audiences beyond a narrow sliver of boys 7 to 11 years old, according to movie tracking surveys.

Warner's top executives admit they're mystified about "Speed Racer," given how pervasive their campaign has been, and how favorably they say the movie has played with screening audiences.

"We're bewildered," said Sue Kroll, the studio's president of worldwide marketing. "We've been talking about this a lot internally. There is a disconnect between how people react to the film and what the tracking is indicating," she added.

"There is a lot of competition out there and as a result a lot of noise. So, tracking doesn't necessarily tell the whole story."

But, "Speed Racer" is debuting between other alluring family films with huge "want-to-see" appeal: "Iron Man," which has grossed more than $120 million domestically since it opened last week, and the much-anticipated sequels of "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Indiana Jones," respectively, on May 16 and May 22.

Warner domestic distribution chief Dan Fellman believes there's potentially enough business for all the offerings just as there was last May when blockbusters "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek The Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" opened back-to-back.

Those were sequels to proven franchises, however, that had mass appeal.