Despite the fact that there was a fair amount of Evan Almighty doomcasting going into the weekend, most of this morning’s box office reports spin the sequel’s $32.3 million take as low enough to qualify as a shock.

Gregg Kilday’s writeup for the Hollywood Reporter arrives with the headline “Low tide for Universal’s ‘Almighty’ bow”; the story goes on to acknowledge that Universal is in the odd of position of “battling a perception” that the weekend’s number 1 film is a failure. “[W]hile the movie might have represented the best showing ever for newly minted star Carell — surpassing the $21.4 million opening of The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005 — Evan now must prove itself in the face of those who already are pointing to it as the first big-budget victim of the summer.”

Box Office Mojo directly contrasted Evan’s debut to Bruce Almighty’s record-setting $68 million bow, ultimately blaming Evan’s “all wet” performance on its lack of fantasy appeal–who wants to live vicariously through a dutiful subject of God?

Besides [Jim] Carrey, Bruce Almighty had a broadly-appealing premise