After first allegedly putting the jinx on Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, the state of Texas returned the favor on Jessica Simpson this past weekend, when her latest film opened in eight theaters to a total of $1,322. No, not Major Movie Star, the Private Benjamin rip-off that audiences will still have a chance to reject and deride in 2008, but Blonde Ambition, in which a young professional woman (Simpson) unwittingly becomes the pawn of
two business executives in their bid to oust the head of a
mega-conglomerate.

Since, in addition to Simpson, the film costars fellow Texan Luke Wilson (and Andy Dick too, who’s… big in the Lone Star state?), Millennium Films executives decided to give the movie a limited, down-home Christmas run, trying to bait more interest from other cinema chains
across the country for a wider January release. That worked out smashingly. Averaged out, Blonde Ambition‘s gross comes to around $165 per theater, and if you figure an average ticket price of around $8, that’s less than 20 people per screen, per day. Awesome… a line-in-the-sand stand by home-staters will certainly help inflict another serious if not yet mortal wound on Simpson’s would-be big screen career.