"Gone Baby Gone" didn't perform as well as I hoped this past weekend. It grossed six million dollars, a respectable total for a film that opened in just 1700 theaters, but well behind "30 Days of Night' a decidedly run-of-the-mill vampire movie with no 'special' visual effects and nobody more exciting than stoic Josh Hartnett. This despite rave reviews for the Ben Affleck-directed "GBG," one of the best movies of the year. What happened??

Perhaps horror flick fans rule…at least for one week. Other reasons could be that Casey Affleck, despite his superb work in "GBG" and his fine performance sharing the title roles with Brad Pitt in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' has yet to emerge as a bankable star.

Then there's the fact that in "GBG’s" setting and the Afflecks' hometown, the movie had to compete with the Red Sox playing two playoff home games at Fenway to earn a spot in the World Series.

And don't forget the competition from a number of other films courting the same adult audience. "Michael Clayton", for instance, grossed 7 million in its second week in wide release. "Rendition" and "Things We Lost in the Fire" actually had much worse debuts than "GBG." Perhaps the glut of serious movies is pushing audiences to lighter fare. How else to explain how "The Game Plan", also on the list above "GBG," is enjoying bewildering success, staying in the top three, four weeks after its release. And "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married" had a $12 million second weekend, a strong effort.

Who knows? Maybe the word will spread that "Gone Baby Gone" has Oscar-caliber work, especially from supporting stars Ed Harris and Amy Ryan, and from director Affleck.

I hope so.