In a current USA Today

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In a current USA Today story, reporter Anthony Breznican asks whether or not Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2oth Century Fox, 5.6) will save the big-budget historical epic genre. Breznican's piece suggests that since the expensive battle flicks Troy, Alexander, King Arthur and The Alamo were "all casualties of middling U.S. ticket sales," that a similar fate may await Scott's $130 million film about the Crusades. Scott replies that a film's emotional content is more important than spectacle or battles, and that this is provides in the relationship between Kingdom's Orlando Bloom and Eva Green. I'm personally more in agreement with Kingdom screenwriter William Monahan's view that "the problem's not epics... there's a problem with people who don't know how to do epics properly. If you're not filling seats at a showing of an adequately advertised motion picture, the audience hasn't failed you...you've failed the audience." All the billboard ads and TV spots for Kingdom indicate a vigorous attempt to promote it, but I'm told there's been some disappointment among Fox marketers that the film isn't tracking better. It would be a shame if this film didn't perform, because by my standards it's really got the goods.