Jennifer Garner’s ‘Butter’ melts with dismal $785 per-theater

While Ben Affleck’s upcoming film “Argo” is already generating Oscar buzz, wife Jennifer Garner has another flop on her hands with “Butter.”

The satirical comedy, which stars Garner as a Michele Bachmann-esque butter carver, debuted in 90 theaters this weekend and grossed $70,653. That amounts to a disastrous per-location average of $785, according to an estimate from The Weinstein Co.’s Radius-TWC unit.

Garner, 40, is no stranger to box office disappointment. In August, her family drama “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” underperformed with a total domestic gross of about $50 million. That was at least more than the $33 million the “Arthur” remake in which she had a supporting role grossed last year.

When it debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in 2011, The Weinstein Co. had high hopes for “Butter.” But the independent studio ended up shifting the film’s release date from March to October of this year, and then decided to distribute it via the company’s multiplatform unit, Radius-TWC. As a result, the film had a less splashy theatrical debut because it has been available via video-on-demand since Sept. 7.

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Review: ‘Butter’ spreads on the condescension a little too thick