"Chihuahua" mauls DiCaprio and Crowe at box office

Fellman said the film's grim subject matter may have deterred moviegoers looking for more uplifting material as world leaders race to head off the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. This explains the strong hold for "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," one of the few comedies in theaters

It did not help that other Iraq war-related movies, such as "Rendition," "Redacted," "Stop-Loss" and "In the Valley of Elah," have also bombed at the box office.

Fellman said the film cost $70 million to make, but rival studios said it might have cost twice as much, given the hefty paydays for DiCaprio, Crowe, and Scott, not to mention the cost of shooting multiple explosions on its Morocco set.

As an aside, "Body of Lies" underperformed the $22 million debut of "Poseidon," the 2006 Warner Bros. bomb that Crowe's character sardonically references in the movie. Crowe recently said that Warner Bros. edited out an extended riff on the maritime disaster.

"Body of Lies" was not the only disappointment. Universal Pictures' football drama "The Express" dropped the ball at No. 6 with $4.7 million. And 20th Century Fox's children's film "City of Ember" opened at No. 10 with $3.2 million. Each cost about $38 million to make, according to their respective studios. Universal is a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal; Fox is a unit of News Corp.

Among new limited releases, British director Guy Ritchie's latest gangster movie, "RocknRolla," earned a solid $141,000 from seven theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. It was also released by Warner Bros.