“Deal,” the newest Hollywood film about the game of poker, bombed at the box office last weekend when it opened in movie theaters across the USA and Canada.

Starring Burt Reynolds as an aging poker pro, the movie did not even crack the list of top ten grossing films for the weekend.

According to official box office figures for last weekend, the top-grossing movie in North America was “Baby Mama,” which played on 2,543 movie screens and grossed $18.2 million.

Second was “Harold and Kumar,” on 2,510 screens and grossing $14.5 million.

Third was “The Forbidden Kingdom,” which ran on 3,151 screens and grossed $11.2 million.

Fourth was “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” on 2,799 screens and grossing $11 million.

Fifth was “Nim’s Island,” which ran on 2,977 screens and grossed $4.5 million.

Rounding out the rest of the top ten grossers for the weekend were=A0 “Prom Night,” “21,” “88 Minutes,” “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Deception.”

So what’s the deal with “Deal”?

The film debuted last weekend on a paltry 50 movie screens across North America–obviously the theater-owners knew what to expect–and earned an even paltrier $31,000.

And it’s not like the movie-going public has anything against movies about card games.

Last weekend’s seventh-highest grossing film, “21,” which earned $4 million and has earned almost $76 million total in the five weeks it’s been out, is about blackjack.

But, despite the booming popularity of poker, most movies about the subject fail miserably.

“The Grand,” which came out earlier this year, wasn’t too grand in the eyes of the movie critics, and set no box office records.

And last year, “Lucky You,” a flick about the World Series of Poker that starred Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, bombed as well.

In fact, according to knowledgeable movie critics, the last good movie about poker was “Rounders,” which came out about 10 years ago.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)