Posted on 04/18/2011 5:56:00 PM PDT by winstonwolf33
Atlas Shrugged: Part I was the top-grossing limited release of the weekend, generating an estimated $1.7 million at 300 single-screen locations.
For a pure independent release, Atlas Shrugged: Part I's opening was fine. But for the first-ever adaptation of Ayn Rand's influential mega-selling 1957 novel that had far more media hype than any other independent movie could dream of, it was disappointing.
There aren't many direct comparisons, because it's rare that an adaptation of such a famous book gets such a modest release. Atlas Shrugged: Part I opened higher than recent limited Christian movies The Grace Card and To Save a Life, and it was distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures' third highest-grossing launch, behind End of the Spear and Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. But none of those movies are significant in the grand scheme of things. They're all still blips, even if Atlas was a slightly bigger blip than many.
What's more, Atlas Shrugged: Part I's box office dropped six percent from Friday to Saturday, further indicating niche appeal. The movie would require exceptional holds moving forward to right its course.
Atlas Shrugged: Part I was reportedly produced for $10 million in a rush to retain the movie rights before they reverted back to Ayn Rand's estate, and its producers eschewed Hollywood (only one theater showed it in the Los Angeles area) after decades of failed attempts. Instead, they took a grass roots approach and tried to capitalize on the Tea Party movement, which was credited with the Republicans' landslide win in last November's election.
(Excerpt) Read more at boxofficemojo.com ...
The combo of no big-name stars and the film's talky storyline was probably the main reason.
I still liked it and will get a DVD when it comes around.
The film didn’t need any “big name” stars to sell. It was made for 10 mil, and the highest per screen average. Now it goes to DVD where money is made and on track to outperform Fireproof’ where 3 years ago, became the top 3 DVD seller.
I really liked the movie.
It’s a quagmire in week one, just like the Iraq war! < / s >
This is one of those movies that will not make big bucks at the box office, but may very well pay for itself many times over through continuing DVD and Netflix sales. I can see people paying to download it many years from now.
Okay. I've been sick but where was all of this "far more media hype" this guy is talking about? I've never heard one thing about it on the boob tube and never saw one ad. I think somebody been hittin' da happy smoke again. I learned about it after reading about it on FR and then going to their website.
I liked it. It was timely with it`s message,(frighteningly so) and I`m looking forward to the next installment. The CDs will ensure there`s money enough to finish this trilogy, and I,(for one) intend to add them to my movie collection.
A few of those DVD sales will be me buying them to give as gifts.
I wasn’t expecting a triumph of the human spirit (thank you Tommy Kirk MST3K) but for my 2 cents, it was well made enough where ADD me stayed fixed just about all the time.
The end was a good one. I won’t spoil it.
If it weren’t for Facebook I would have probably never heard of this movie until well after it left theaters. I was actually enjoying going to the movies for the first time in ages. It has been a good couple of years I think since the last time I went.
It did have Quark from ST DS9 and Fat Rollie from a couple of Starsky & Hutch episodes (among many other things of course) and that was good enough for me. The message means more than the players in this case. For non-household names, they did pretty well.
I could have seen Claudia Christian as Dagny. She can certainly do tough and savvy. Ivanova was one my favorite characters on B5. I hated seeing her go before S5.
We enjoyed Part I and look forward to Part II.
Our theater was 3/4 full on a Sunday evening.
What? It had that guy I saw on half a season of "Ugly Betty", and that other guy who did 6 or 7 episodes of "House" and one of the lesser important people on "Lost". And that guy from SG1/DS9/Buffy/Beauty & the Beast was onscreen for nearly 5 minutes!
My husband, our daughter and I saw the movie. We LOVED it. Our daughter (28) was the youngest person in the theater, as far as we could see. It was very well made and stuck to the book. It didn’t take that much thinking to follow the plot. It was well worth the time and we will be getting the DVD as soon as it comes out.
I just saw it this evening, and it was a good effort under the budgetary circumstances. John Galt’s lines were awful, and there was a little too much filler footage, but Hank and Dagney came across really well, as did Lillian Rearden, James Taggart and most of the rest. A little bit into it I started liking the fact that they were all no-names.
The one screen in pittsburgh had the 8:00 Friday show sold out by the Wednesday before. I had to get tix on fandango for the 5:50 show, which also was sold out by Friday. If it didn’t make much money it was only due to limited screens. I thought it was very well done.
I’d like to see it.
It’s not playing anywhere in my area. I’d have to drive to the murder capital of Phila, which is about 1 1/2 hours each way.
Or I’d have to get a bus to NYC for a 2 hr ride each way.
Hopefully, it will show up here...
My 18-year-old daughter insists on seeing it. We will have to drive about 120 miles to do so, but we will!
mega dittoes
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I usually don’t like to devote more than 22 minutes to a TV show or movie, but the 102 minutes flew by and left me wishing there was more. I’ll definitely see it again and give the DVD’s for Christmas.
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