Posted on 06/28/2004 10:06:02 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES, (AFP) - US filmmaker Michael Moore is claiming a major political coup against US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) as "Fahrenheit 9/11" scorched box office records and shook the US political scene.
The polemical film earned 23.9 million dollars at the box office in its North American debut, more than any other documentary in history, indicating it could yet influence voters ahead of November's election, some experts said.
The film that bashes Bush over the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and for an alleged erosion of US civil rights amid the war against terror, crushed its big-budget Hollywood competition and performed even better than initially estimated.
The movie that cost six million dollars to make and which just a month ago could not find a distributor after Walt Disney Corp refused to release it, is the first documentary ever to open in top spot at the US box office.
In just three days, "Fahrenheit" smashed the 21.6-million-dollar-record for ticket sales for a documentary set over a nine-month run by Moore's Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine."
"These are mind-blowing numbers," Moore said of his film that opened on 868 US and Canadian screens Friday after Miramax chiefs Harvey and Bob Weinstein bought the rights back from Disney.
"All the predictions were that the movie would only speak to the choir, that it would only be for those who don't like Bush. I don't think that turned out to be true," he told reporters.
"The right wing is a getting a Christmas card from me," he told the Los Angeles Times of the Palme D'Or-winning film's success, despite a call by conservative group Move America Forward for Bush supporters and cinemas to boycott it.
"Fahrenheit" far outpaced two new Hollywood releases -- the comedy "White Chicks", which opened on more than 2,000 screens but took second place with 19.6 million dollars and "The Notebook," which was fourth with 13.4 million.
The movie's success could see it expanded onto as many as 2,000 screens by July 9, reports said.
Moore has made no secret of his hopes that his movie's tough images and liberal rhetoric will help influence voters into defeating the Republican Bush in the November 2 presidential election.
But experts had warned that the documentary, which includes allegations of links between the Bush family and that of al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), would not change voters' minds but simply reinforce existing beliefs.
The staggering box office returns suggest that the film might influence voters.
"The movie is doing as well in red (Republican-dominated) states as in blue (Democratic) states shows that there is a demand for change in policy that the opinion polls are not revealing," said University of Southern California communications professor Martin (news - web sites) Kaplan.
"If I were Bush, I would be more worried after this weekend than before it. It is hard to see the movie and not leave it feeling the country needs a change," he told AFP.
Surveys show that up to 21 percent of voters have not yet made up their minds between Bush and Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry (news - web sites), who are locked in a neck-and-neck race as the war in Iraq continues to spiral further into violence and chaos.
The film's producers, the Weinstein brothers, hailed its success after their politically-charged gamble paid off.
"The movie has transcended its genre," Harvey Weinstein told the Los Angeles Times. "It's playing like a 'movie', not a 'documentary,'" he said.
University of California, Berkeley politics professor Bruce Caine said the emotive documentary would influence the polls, at least by rousing Democratic voters in an often apathetic electorate.
"It will have an effect for sure," he told AFP. "It is going to energise the Democratic base, which is really important as in this election, the question is who will be able turn out their party base."
The extraordinary media hype surrounding the film could also reach the minority of voters who have not yet made up their minds about which they intend to vote.
"If these uncommitted people go the movie because of the buzz, it may influence them," Caine said, adding however that while the movie brought home the horror of the war in Iraq, many viewers may not be convinced by its strident political tenor.
But Carroll Doherty, of the Pew Research Center, doubted the film's stellar success could shift voter opinions away from Bush.
"I don't expect a big impact on the election for a couple of reasons. First, the timing: the movie is out four months before the election. And because America is very polarised."
According to this article, there's pretty much no point to having an election any more. Kerry's a 100% lock, according to Yahoo.
"more than any other documentary in history"Isn't that like saying more than any other movie about gay cowboys eating pudding?
credit warrior_poet
F9/11 is the highest grossing documentary of all time, minus all the other documentaries. I read the statement about Michael Moore's new movie being named the highest documentary of all time "apart from concert films and movies made for IMAX theaters". This got me curious. It seems like a heavy disclaimer. So I did a little research. I found out that most documentaries are put out on IMAX screens. Here is a list the highest grossing large-screen documentaries put out by MacGillivray Freeman Films:
”Everest” (1998)--$128 million (the highest grossing documentary film of all time*)
”To Fly” (1976)--$118 million (the second highest grossing documentary film of all time)
”The Living Sea” (1995)---$92 million (Academy Award nominee)
”Dolphins” (2000)--$75 million (Academy Award nominee)
”To The Limit” (1989)--$72 million
Last year’s “Coral Reef Adventure” has grossed $38 million to date after playing in 75 IMAX theaters, and it continues to open in new theaters today.
So, apparently Moore's 23 million has a long way to go before reaches 128 million. That's a pretty good use of a disclaimer if you think about it.
its already online...
http://www.suprnova.org/
William,
Very well done on both posts. BTTT to you!
Look at this at a new angle and 22 million dollars at the box office is NOT a political victory.
Assuming that the vast majority of the people that saw it over the weekend were people that voted for Gore or Nader in 2000, which would equal 53,338957 people. Now take the box office money rounded-up to the nearest million ($22 Million) and devide that by an average of $7 a ticket and you get 3,142,000 people who saw it. Less than 6 percent of the liberal to leftist base has seen it. The movie is preaching to the choir, but most members of the choir are missing.
Thanks, Sergei (hey, I thought you'd been traded)
91 is Sergei, man...91!!!
The 9 is my birth month...
Sorry. I got married a couple of years ago and have hardly seen hockey since. Not that I'm complaining...
I want to go see Dodgeball myself, it looks pretty funny.
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