Drew says Demi upstaged ''Charlie's Angels''

Now it can be told: One reason this summer’s ”Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” didn’t do better at the box office was that Demi Moore’s offscreen romance with Ashton Kutcher eclipsed her onscreen comeback. So suggests Drew Barrymore, who produced and starred in both ”Angels” movies. ”You could say there is a bit of irony in all that,” Barrymore told the Calgary Sun this week. ”In the film, Demi’s character, Madison Lee, wanted to overshadow the new Angels, and that’s what happened in reality.”

Of course, it was Barrymore who recruited Moore in the first place. Back in June, EW reported that Barrymore had invited Moore and the rest of the ”Angels” team to her house to pitch her the role. ”We’d never have gone forward with that character in the absence of Demi,” director McG told EW. ”She’s awesome. I just enjoy her performances and her gutsiness.”

Barrymore, currently onscreen in the comedy flop ”Duplex,” stopped short of blaming Moore for ”Full Throttle”’s lackluster performance — since she wouldn’t even call the performance disappointing. ”We’ve made close to $260 million worldwide to date, so it’s really bitchy and mean when people try to make you feel like a failure,” she told the Sun. (In the U.S., however, the film grossed only $100 million, $25 million less than its predecessor, which earned $264.1 million worldwide.) ”I refuse to feel bad and wouldn’t even if the film had only made back its costs. I’ve had a wonderful experience these past six years working on the Angel movies with Cameron [Diaz] and Lucy [Liu], who are two of my best friends. If a dynamite third script surfaces, I’m pretty certain we’d all come back for more.” But would they come back for Moore?