2009. While it was originally scheduled to be released in the U.S. on October 30, 2009, on July 31, 2009, it was announced the release date would be delayed to November 6, 2009. The film opened with $7,571,417 in 2,635 theaters at an average of $2,873 per theater. It ranked number 6 at the box office coming in behind the newly released Disney's A Christmas Carol, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and The Fourth Kind. The film went on to gross $15,051,977 domestically and $32,924,206 worldwide. It was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download in the U.S. on February 23, 2010. Reception Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 153 critics have given the film a positive review, and the average rating is 5.1 out of 10. The site's consensus is that "Imaginative but often preposterous, The Box features some thrills but largely feels too piecemeal." Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a score of 47 based on 24 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore on opening day gave the film an F, for which CinemaScore President Ed Mintz blamed the film's ending and was quoted as saying "People really thought this was a stinker." , it is one of only 22 films to receive such a rating. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and wrote: "This movie kept me involved and intrigued, and for that I'm grateful." Jordan Mintzer of Variety wrote: "Kelly's trademark mix of sci-fi, surrealism and suburbia occasionally entertains." Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named The Box the ninth-best film of 2009, calling it "a defiantly personal project that solidifies writer-director Richard Kelly's talent, even as it surely pushes him further toward the filmmaking fringe." Awards The film was nominated at the 8th Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture but lost to Sherlock Holmes. References External links 2009 films 2009 science fiction films 2009 psychological thriller films American science fiction thriller films American psychological thriller films Films about NASA Films based on science fiction short stories Films based on works by Richard Matheson Films directed by Richard Kelly Films produced by Dan Lin Films set in 1976 Films set in Norfolk, Virginia Films shot in Boston Films shot in Quincy, Massachusetts Films shot in Virginia