John Aglialoro, the exercise-equipment magnate who produced the Atlas Shrugged movie, would like you to know you’re not worthy:

“Critics, you won,” said John Aglialoro, the businessman who spent 18 years and more than $20 million of his own money to make, distribute and market “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1,” which covers the first third of Rand’s dystopian novel. “I’m having deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2.”

“Atlas Shrugged” was the top-grossing limited release in its opening weekend, generating $1.7 million on 299 screens and earning a respectable $5,640 per screen. But the the box office dropped off 47% in the film’s second week in release even as “Atlas Shrugged” expanded to 425 screens, and the movie seemed to hold little appeal for audiences beyond the core group of Rand fans to whom it was marketed.

Aglialoro attributed the box office drop-off to “Atlas Shrugged’s” poor reviews.

The critics also killed most Adam Sandler movies, not that it did any good.

‘Atlas Shrugged’ producer: ‘Critics, you won.’ He’s going ‘on strike.’ [LAT]

“In its second week of release, after expanding from 300 to 465 theaters, Atlas Shrugged: Part I may have started to tank. The movie hauled $879,000 over the weekend; more importantly, it only made an average of $1,890 per screen. The first week, it made $5,600 per screen.” [Weigel]

Wait, who’s that one critic who liked it?

Though a bit stiff in the joints and acted by an undistinguished cast amid TV-movie trappings, this low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novel nevertheless contains a fire and a fury that makes it more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Kyle Smith of the New York Post.

But before you jump to Murdochian conclusions…

Don’t hold your breath for parts 2 and 3.

…Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal.

Atlas Shrugged Part I [Rotten Tomatoes, via Weigel]

“Newly released Federal Aviation Administration documents and audiotapes shed a scary new light on a bizarre incident late last year during which U.S. Senator James Inhofe landed his Cessna on a closed runway at a south Texas airport, scattering construction workers who ran for their lives as the politician’s plane hopscotched over them and six vehicles.” [Smoking Gun, via Political Wire]

“The Spokane office of the FBI confirmed late Tuesday morning that a suspicious package found along the route of the Unity Parade on Monday morning was a credible threat that had the potential to cause ‘multiple casualties.'” [KXLY, via TPM]

Sorry, no bunnies: “According to NOAA scientists, 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year of the global surface temperature record, beginning in 1880. This was the 34th consecutive year with global temperatures above the 20th century average. For the contiguous United States alone, the 2010 average annual temperature was above normal, resulting in the 23rd warmest year on record.” [NOAA]

If you have seventeen minutes to spare, why not enjoy a trip down memory lane? Or, if you’d rather not enjoy San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake (and Fire! never forget the Fire!), there’s always the prequel.

[via Kottke]