gun. In August 2006, the film was retitled Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker for North American release. A new poster and trailer were released along with the announcement. It was also revealed that the US premiere would take place on the Intrepid aircraft carrier at the Hudson River, New York City. The name of the villain also changed from Herod Sayle to Darrius Sayle, with his nationality switched from Lebanese (Egyptian in the US version of the novel) to American. This was because Mickey Rourke was already in talks to take on the role, so Horowitz adapted the character to suit him. Reception Box office Stormbreaker was distributed by Entertainment Film Distributors in the United Kingdom, where the film made $2,313,496 on its opening weekend, well below its expected target of blockbuster status. The film's grosses gradually declined each week for the remainder of its run, totalling of $12,872,046, making up more than half of what would become the film's final worldwide gross. In the United States, the film was distributed by The Weinstein Company in 221 theatres and grossed $215,177, with an average of $973 per screen and ranking No. 27 during its opening weekend. The film earned $677,646 in the United States and $23,260,224 internationally for a total of $23,937,870 on an estimated budget of $40 million. The Numbers reported a worldwide gross of $20.7 million. In Germany, the film was given a direct-to-video release. In a 2007 interview for Reuters, Horowitz blamed Stormbreakers financial failings on The Weinstein Company's handling of the film's distribution on the American market, particularly their decision to not give it a wide release. According to the writer, "Harvey Weinstein decided not to distribute it. It is one of the most bizarre and annoying things that the film didn't get given its shot in America. To this day I don't know why." Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has a score of 35% based on 69 reviews with an average rating of 4.7 out of 10. The critical consensus states "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker is strictly children's fare, as it lacks originality, excitement, and believability." The film also has a score of 42 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". BBC critic Neil Smith gave the film three out of five stars but criticised the "unsubtle turns" from both Bill Nighy and Stephen