Current trend of World War II Era films are not drawing large audiences

The current two World War II Era films, Valkyrie and Defiance, are not having the level of success that the producers expected. Valkyrie released on Christmas Day of 2008, is a film about the German plot to assassinate Hitler. While Defiance chronicles the story of 3 Jewish brothers that saved 1200 Jews by hiding them in the forest while at the same time engaged in partisan resistance against the Nazis and was released on December 31, 2008. Valkyrie reportedly cost $75 million to make and just recently broke even with that amount. Defiance reportedly cost $50 million to make and to date has only made about $14 million. Ironically, the current top films have been comedies. A possible explanation for this could be due to the poor state of the economy and movie goers wanting a positive escape from reality. I also wish to note that the current number 2 ranked film is Gran Torino.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=valkyrie.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=defiance.htm