Jodie Foster’s long-awaited third directorial effort, “The Beaver,” opened in 22 theaters across North America this weekend to dismal box office returns. Starring PR nightmare Mel Gibson as a clinically depressed toy company CEO who finds solace through a beaver hand puppet, the film grossed an estimated $104,000 over the weekend, averaging just $4,727. To put that into perspective, last month “Atlas Shrugged, Part 1” averaged $5,608 from a significantly wider 299 theaters, while Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” averaged $5,500 from an even wider 707 screens.

“The Beaver” is also the worst debut for a Foster-directed film. In 1991, “Little Man Tate” grossed $230,106 from just 7 theaters in its opening weekend (averaging $32,872), while box office disappointment “Home For The Holidays” grossed $4,007,717 from 1,000 theaters in 1996 (its average of $4,007 rivals “The Beaver” despite it opening on 50 times the screens).

With a budget of $21 million, “The Beaver” was not a costly endeavor and will break even with foreign sales. However, these numbers are still not promising and suggest North American audiences are not up for seeing Gibson back on the big screen. The last film that featured Gibson in a starring role to gross under $40 million was 1993’s “The Man Without a Face” (his directorial debut), and it would be quite the achievement for “The Beaver” to gross even $20 million at this point. Perhaps it will soar to unexpected heights when it expands later this month, but so far that’s looking extremely unlikely.