Posted on 06/29/2004 4:49:10 AM PDT by clyde asbury
'Fahrenheit 9/11' sets record
"Fahrenheit 9/11," a left-sided documentary that bashes the Bush administration's war on terrorism, wouldn't find much of an audience in a military town.
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Kathy Norris, left, and Natalie Sorton enter the Cameo Art House Theatre on Monday afternoon to see the documentary ‘Fahrenheit 9/11.’ |
Or so they thought.
"This has broken all of our past records," said Nasim Kuenzel, an owner of the Cameo Art House Theatre. "The movie that I thought would make us hardly any money - I never thought it would break all the records."
Both showings sold out Friday at the Cameo, the only theater in Fayetteville to carry the Michael Moore film. A midnight showing added at the last minute Friday brought in 60 more people.
Saturday and Sunday were just as busy, Kuenzel said, with nearly 1,000 tickets sold over the weekend. As many as 75 percent of moviegoers were soldiers or military families, Kuenzel said.
Many were like Natalie Sorton. She is 25 and married to an infantryman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I want to see what my husband is fighting for," Sorton said Monday before going into the theater with a friend, Kathy Norris.
Another military spouse had recommended the movie. While Sorton described herself as a moderate Republican, she said she gained respect for Moore after seeing his last documentary, "Bowling for Columbine."
In that film, Moore pestered corporations and celebrities to take responsibility for gun violence. Sorton said she wanted to see Moore be equally pestering to politicians who make decisions about war.
"I'm going because from what I heard about ('Fahrenheit 9/11'), it fills in a lot of blanks, a lot of questions we've had about the Bush administration," Sorton said.
The documentary assails President Bush's decisions surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Moore attempts to link the Bush family with Saudi Arabia and blame business interests as the reason for invading Iraq. "Fahrenheit 9/11" includes frank comments from soldiers in Iraq and emotional interviews with families who lost children in the fighting.
Almost all the crowds at the Cameo have applauded the film at the end, with some people giving standing ovations, Kuenzel said. Many have tears in their eyes as they leave the theater.
"I think it's going to open my eyes a little, and that worries me," Sorton said before taking her seat.
Lea Barnes, a Republican, seemed giddy as she and a friend bought tickets Monday.
"I'm not pleased at all about the way things are going" with the war, Barnes said. "I trust Michael Moore. He can be out there a bit, but he's for the common man."
Negative reactions have been few, Kuenzel said. The theater received three calls and two letters in opposition of carrying the film, she said. No one has protested, though some people handed out anti-war fliers on the street Friday evening.
Nationwide ticket sales totaling $23.9 million launched the film to the No. 1 spot over the weekend, a record for a documentary. Twelve other theaters in North Carolina are carrying "Fahrenheit 9/11," according to the film's Web site.
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Natalie Sorton, who saw ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ on Monday at the Cameo Art House Theatre, said the movie convinced her that oil and corporate interests fueled the decision to go to war in Iraq. |
The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill also sold out over the weekend, with some patrons from the Fayetteville area, said owner Mary Jo Stone. The publicity surrounding Disney's refusal to distribute the film because of its political content helped ignite sales.
"I think people are interested in perhaps getting a different perspective than what they see in the news all the time," Stone said.
Since the Cameo opened in 2000, the only other movies that approached the sales figures for "Fahrenheit 9/11" were "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Other theaters across the country are expected to start showing the film in the next few weeks.
After Monday's showing, Sorton emerged with a grim face. She said she plans to buy the film on DVD and give it to everyone she knows.
"I'm disgusted," she said. "Disgusted."
The film changed her opinions on the war in Iraq by convincing her that oil and corporate interests were behind decision-making, she said. Worries over whether Moore would vilify soldiers were unfounded.
"I don't think they portrayed them as bad," she said. "I don't think it portrayed them as not doing their jobs. It showed them doing what they're told.
"All this movie did was open my eyes a little more to what's really going on," she said. "I think this is definitely going to have an impact on the election. I'm glad I'm a voter."
Staff writer Matt Leclercq can be reached at leclercqm@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3551.
Funny, when The Passion of the Christ sold out 800 seats during six screenings a day over a three day weekend (a total of 14,400 tickets sold) in my town, it barely made a two sentence mention in the local paper.
The Air America strategy at work.
Look at this at a new angle and 22 million dollars at the box office doesn't seem like much.
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 take rounded-up to the nearest million ($22 Million) and devide that by an average of $7 a ticket and you see that less than 6 percent of the liberal to leftist base has seen it. This movie is preaching to the choir, but most members of the choir are missing.
Another thought, if it wasn't in the theater, White Chicks would be #1. Now there is some tuff competition.
Take away all the pre-release hype, and F/911 would of been a major flop.
GO SPIDERMAN GO
The theater had 125 seats. A sellout? Big whoop.
In Richard Johnson's Page Six in The New York Post today, it states that this theater has only 125 seats. I also heard that in order to get the numbers they wanted, they had to run the movie 24 hours round the clock.
Anyhow, I imagine there are a lot of moveon.org people who will see this several times, just because they can't throw enough money at Michael Moore. But it'll be blown out of the water tomorrow, when Spiderman II comes out.
I should say, early reports are that Spidey II compares well with the first.
I'm sorry my post was not meant to disparage any thing you said. Hope no ruffled feathers remain.
Is she going to tell her husbannd that he's a mis-guided bush-bot? He's been duped by the military and the administration?
Of course this story is only comprised of anecdotal "evidence", behind it all does reveal a very sad story. The story of Natalie Sorton, proud of her husband and what he is accomplisihing overseas. Only to do a complete 180 because of the parnoid delusions of a ranting far left conspiracy theorist.
Lord, I hope not. She will be a misguided soul if she does.
My thoughts exactly. I'll believe they're Republicans after I see their voter registration forms. (Like Michael Moore claiming he wasn't a Democrat, just an Independent, only to have the Smoking Gun site show him to be a registered Democrat.)
Is the theatre on or off base? If it is off base, then civilians also had access to the movie. And where did those "hundreds of patrons" come from? The military base? Bussed in from other areas, just to make a showing?
Based on Moore's record, I'd take the "record numbers" with a grain of salt. How many idiots does it take to stuff a phonebooth? Fill a theatre?
I confess I was pretty naiive. It wasn't until after 9-11, and the anti-Capitalist conspiracy theories of the Progressives came out in full force, that I realized how nuts they all were. Those people (Michael Moore leading the pack with his post 9-11 tirade on how it was all Bush's fault because of Kyoto and WCAR, etc) were coming up with "reasons" for the attack before Bin Laden actually came out and took credit for it. That's crazy.
I confess I was pretty naiive. It wasn't until after 9-11, and the anti-Capitalist conspiracy theories of the Progressives came out in full force, that I realized how nuts they all were. Those people (Michael Moore leading the pack with his post 9-11 tirade on how it was all Bush's fault because of Kyoto and WCAR, etc) were coming up with "reasons" for the attack before Bin Laden actually came out and took credit for it. That's crazy.
What a load of Bull M.Morre is not for the common man! The common man doesn't need M. Moores help and he's not my friend. Me and all the common men I know speak for themselves and don't need any represenatives, we say what we mean and mean what we say and don't need Mr Moore's so-called help. And who wants to be a common man when its leader(Mr. Mooore)is big fat ugly stupid and stirs up trouble?
So go see "We Were Soldiers" instead, you dolt.
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