It seems the pall currently hanging over the US box-office is so murky it has even managed to impede the progress of a Michael Bay film.

For the last decade or so, with pictures such as The Rock, Armageddon and the galloping atrocity that was Pearl Harbor, Mr Bay, pausing only to give the finger to his many critics, has consistently skipped to the top of the charts. But his latest picture, The Island - in which, if the posters are to be believed, Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor (above) run away from something - only made it to the No 4 spot on its debut weekend.

The Island's paltry opening take of $12.1 million (€10.1 million) is the lowest for any Bay film. Even Bad Boys, way back in 1995, took $15.5 million (€12.9 million). And they say there's no good news in the papers.