Hollywood sceptical over final Ledger film

Hollywood film chiefs have warned that Heath Ledger's final movie could make little impact at the box office.

Ledger's role as The Joker in new Batman adventure The Dark Knight has helped the film to break records in the US. However, his final project, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, has not been tipped to enjoy the same success.

Parnassus was written and directed by Terry Gilliam, who has not been known to make commercially-friendly movies since his 1995 hit Twelve Monkeys. A deal to distribute the film in the US has not yet been finalised, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

One distribution executive told the publication: "In this market, unless I have a reason to think a movie like this is going to be a slam dunk I'm not going to take a flyer on it, even with Heath Ledger."

Another source added: "For all the elements in this film, it is a Terry Gilliam picture, and as much as you want a movie of his to be good, you have to be careful."

Filming for the project had not been completed when Ledger died in January. Producers later recruited Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to play "transformations" of Ledger's character Tony as he travels through dimensions in the fantasy-adventure movie.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is currently scheduled to be released next year.