Just how badly did Arthur bomb at the box office this weekend? To the tune of a mere $12.6 million, which landed the remake at a very distant second place behind Hop, which scored $21.7 million in the second week of its theater run. Yes, both films star Russell Brand, but (aside from a cameo) he’s only heard but not seen in the latter film, wherein he voices the Easter Bunny. His presence meant very little to the success of Hop, and I’d bet that the vast majority of viewers neither knew nor cared who Brand is; and the disappointing returns of Arthur would confirm that U.S. audiences don’t register him as a leading man at all.

Admittedly, I’ve got a love-hate relationship with Russell Brand. On one hand, I find him rather amusing in certain late-night capacities, such as his explanation of monarchy and the royal wedding on a recent Conan O’Brien episode. However, when the subject arises of Brand attempting to break into the U.S. mainstream, I’m reminded of the fact that he was sacked by MTV UK for dressing up as Osama bin Laden on September 21, 2001. To be fair, the guy was doing heroin at the time and has since cleaned up his act quite a bit, but the fact remains that he doesn’t fit neatly within mainstream American sensibilities. For certain, most critics turned up their noses at the Arthur remake, with the movie scoring a mere 25% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Now, Time has already begun to celebrate the cinematic end of Brand:

Can we stop thinking about Russell Brand now? Britain’s bad-boy comic, who scored a vocal hit last week as the teen bunny in Hop, looked to parlay his animated success by starring in a remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy Arthur. But audiences decided they’d rather hear Brand than see him. The holdover Hop, which dropped 42% from last weekend’s winning tally, won the battle of the Brands. Its $21.7 million earned it the top spot in North American theaters, according to early studio estimates, while Arthur grossed just $12.6 million, well below expectations, in its opening frame. Total theatrical revenue was down about 6% from the same weekend last year, with box-office earnings still running a parlous 30% below 2010’s.

Hop and Arthur were supposed to be the one-two punch that would transform Brand — known to American audiences for a supporting role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a co-star turn in Get Him to the Greek and his husbanding of Katy Perry — into the next bankable comedy phenom. Here was the ideal match of new star and old property, with the ex-druggie Brand as the dipsomaniacal playboy whom Moore had made both famous and endearing. Instead of pruney John Gielgud as Arthur’s veddy proper valet, Brand had Oscar- and Emmy-winner Helen Mirren; it was the two stars’ first picture together since their (SARCASM ALERT) plangently poetic teaming last year in Julie Taymor’s take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest (total worldwide gross: $302,110). Arthur made no happier impression than did Mirren’s hosting gig on last night’s lackluster and lack-laugh episode of Saturday Night Live. Even British dames — and dudes — can get slapped with the wet sock of failure.

[From Time]

To be certain, this is a huge (and possibly fatal) blow to Brand’s budding fim career. In the grand scheme of things, Arthur means very little to Helen Mirren’s well-established career, and Jennifer Garner still has that ridiculous Mrs. Marple reboot franchise to fall back upon. If Brand fails to score any more plum leading-man roles, I could see his marriage to Katy Perry falling into even more dangerous territory than its current tenuous state. After all, Katy Perry is a self-declared superstar and would never stay married to anyone less worthy, and as much as Kaiser would love to see Brand’s hands and mouth all over Helen Mirren in a remake of Arthur 2: On The Rocks, it shall never happen in a sequel. But behind closed doors, who knows?