Another flop for Nicholas Cage in Ghost Rider 2

When Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opened to ho-hum business in North America, the box-office obit writers rushed to bury it, declaring it as yet another flop for the fast waning career of Nicholas Cage.

In its first three days, the film made about $22 million, opening at number three. In the second week, when the film, which has Ashok Amritraj as one of its producers, plummeted by about 60 per cent, the verdict seemed certain--that it was a genuine tanker. While the Ghost Rider had grossed $81 million in North America in 12 days four years ago, the sequel in 3D collected only $32 million, box-office receipts showed.

'With his latest film, , sputtering over the holiday weekend, Nicolas Cage's career as an action star continues to hit the skids,' the Los Angeles Times wrote after the first weekend results came in. 'The 3-D sequel, starring the 48-year-old actor as a motorcycle-riding superhero, was expected to easily top the box office this weekend.'

But the box-office champ was the Denzel Washington crime caper Safe House, which in its second week amassed an impressive $23 million.

The myopic analysts were missing two important facts about Ghost Rider's successor. One, that the film was made for about $57 million, about 40 per cent less than the cost of its predecessor. And two, it was doing very good business abroad. In fact, it was No 1 outside America and Canada over the last weekend, earning a decent $22 million.

Box Office Mojo reported that nearly $8.2 million of that came from the first Russian