MUFFLED

Crown International’s “My Chauffer” is due to open in the remaining 20% of the country this month, but don’t look for box-office grosses.

When the indie film distributor announced Jan. 28 that “Chauffer” had grossed $4.8 million in its first three days nationwide, major studio marketing execs hotly contested the figure. Daily Variety, in an editorial, called it “greatly exaggerated.” Crown then announced that it would report no further grosses for the pic “on advise of counsel.”

A Crown rep told Outtakes the company is remaining mum: “(Crown) decided that because we’re a private company, we just won’t do it. After the big brouhaha, they just didn’t want to. The wounds are still healing. They (the majors) used real big guns.”