Entertainment

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This film image released by Kenn Viselman Presents, Inc. shows actors Christopher Lloyd as Lero Sombrero, left, and Jaime Pressly as Lola in a scene from "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure." (AP Photo/Kenn Viselman Presents, Inc., Matthew Mitchell)

If you're the parent of a preschool-age child, you may have noticed the colorful ads in recent weeks for "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure" and thought to yourself: "God, I hope my kid doesn't insist on seeing that movie."

If you're not a parent, but have even a passing interest in pop culture, you may have heard of "The Oogieloves" anyway: It's making news, and for all the wrong reasons.

The G-rated, live-action family film had a historically abysmal opening: $443,901 in its first weekend in theatres (the movie had opened on 2,160 screens the previous Wednesday).

That averages out to $206 per screen. Both figures are record-worsts for a wide release.

Suddenly, the word "Oogieloves" was right up there with "Ishtar" as a shorthand for film failure.

But a morbid fascination with the movie seems to have developed over the past week.

Jen Chaney wrote in her Washington Post blog: "The massive floppage of 'The Oogieloves' has only made me feel more compelled to see it."

Arts writer Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times joked during the Democratic National Convention on Twitter, where he's @ditzkoff: "Clinton's speech so good he convinced me to see that Oogieloves movie. #DNC"

And Nick Robinson, a fixture in film circles who describes himself as an "award-winning festival bumper creator" went so far as to attend a Labor Day matinee and live-tweet the whole thing.

Among the many funny @NickRob tweets: "To be fair this movie does a good job of portraying proper bicycle safety. #OOGIELOVES"

Producer Kenn Viselman, the marketing mastermind behind "Thomas the Tank Engine" and the "Teletubbies," has said he's happy the film has achieved such notoriety, because it's drawn more attention than it would have with just an average opening.

He's also said he'll go ahead with a couple of planned sequels, even as this first film drops 1,879 screens in its second weekend to just 281.

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Contact AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire .