There are two ways of looking at 20th Century Fox's decision not to air an ad for The Happening during the Super Bowl last night (Ed. Note: teaser trailer removed by the request of 20th Century Fox). The first is that the company made a financially savvy decision by choosing not to blow $2.7 million on a thirty-second advertisement (like all those other studios did). The other is that the studio is feeling a bit gunshy on the financial prospects of Night's first film since the unmitigated disaster that was Lady In The Water. And as for which theory we think holds more water? We're going with the latter.

The first theory we outlined doesn't make sense for one major reason. That reason being that the game was broadcast on the Fox Network, which (duh) also owns 20th Century Fox. So, if someone (anyone!) at Fox felt strongly enough about the movie, they would've easily been able to put a call into Rupert Murdoch's beancounters to make the accounting work. It's not like any money would've had to change hands. Which is why we're leaning towards the latter theory.

While not many details are known about this project, we know this much to be true — the film is being referred to as Night's "green" movie (the project operated under the working names of both Green Planet and The Green Effect). And as much play as the green movement has gotten in the media, it hasn't really gained any significant traction with consumers in The Heartland. When you add on the fact that early message board buzz declares that "this film will seal [Night's] doom and send him back to directing straight to DVD films" AND that the film is seriously lacking in the star power department (Mark Wahlberg and John Leguizamo can't put butts in seats) ... BOOM! Fox just might have themselves a potential bomb on their hands. Developing...