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As The Slump deepens, theaters are trying desperation tactics (discounts, lame "all Smiths and Herbies get in free!" promotions, etc etc) to lure the public's indifferent heinies into their stadium seats. The WSJ reports that theater chain AMC is so exasperated with the underperformance of the once Oscar-baiting, now bonafide flop Cinderella Man that they're offering a refund to anyone who doesn't like the treacly cinematic stylings of Ron Howard:

"We just really believe that 'Cinderella Man' is a special picture," says Dick Walsh, film group chairman at AMC, the nation's second-largest theater circuit. "It's first class up and down, almost certain to be nominated for Academy Awards, and we just wanted to do whatever we could to help."

So far the promotion hasn't burned them. (If no one goes to see a movie, they can't ask for their money back, even if they liked it.) But if the chain really wants to play the money-back daredevil and get behind their last hope for a summer Slump-buster, they'll set up a refund station outside a War of the Worlds showing underneath a picture of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes making out.