Posted on 04/21/2011 5:42:34 AM PDT by BCrago66
The Hollywood Reporter notes surprising-to-the-industry success for the launch of Atlas Shrugged Part One:
"Shocking," one executive said about the healthy business the low-budget film has been doing considering its "awful" marketing plan
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
I'll bet the "crowd" is small!
I love Reason, and they deserve hits, but I hate two-sentence excerpts. :-)
Here.
*************
Print|Email
Atlas Makers Defend Their Political Promotion Plans
Brian Doherty | April 20, 2011
The Hollywood Reporter notes surprising-to-the-industry success for the launch of Atlas Shrugged Part One:
“Shocking,” one executive said about the healthy business the low-budget film has been doing considering its “awful” marketing plan.
Awful or not, business has been brisk enough for producers Harmon Kaslowand John Aglialoro to expand from 299 theaters to 425 this weekend and to 1,000 by the end of the month, they toldThe Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday.
The two said they fielded 500 inquiries from theater bookers Monday but didn’t have enough film prints to fill orders....
Kaslow and Aglialoro stood by their marketing campaign, which relied heavily on using the Internet to drum up support among members of the Tea Party, Libertarians and other Rand enthusiasts....
“We didn’t take the needle-in-the-haystack approach by running a bunch of TV ads looking for the needles who might want to see the film,” Kaslow said. “We turned that model on its head. When the needles looked for us, we advertised to them. We were getting 9 million online impressions a day from people looking for Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged and [the book’s popular line] ‘Who Is John Galt?’”....
Aglialoro said his “aspiration” is to make Parts 2 and 3, though he won’t determine whether it makes economic sense for several weeks. He spent $10 million of his own money to make Part 1.
Merchandise, he said, is helping the cause. When Aglialoro obtained rights to the movie almost 19 years ago, he also got rights to sell such items as T-shirts, mugs, posters and even jewelry, though not dolls, video games and other “interesting exceptions.”
On Tuesday, the Website atlasshruggedpart1.com was sold out of its most expensive item: a $159 bracelet made of “Rearden Metal,” a replica of the one heroine Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling) wears in the film.
My Reason magazine feature from May on the making and promotion of the film.
Direct link to the Youtube video (I’ll have to watch it later on).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfr7vzSx1lU&feature=player_embedded
Ping.
I saw it last Saturday night with my wife.
Matthew Marsden, who plays the part of James Taggart, the archschlemiel, brother of Dagny, is one of the highlights! He is very good in that role.
Another bright spot is Rebecca Wisocky as Hank Rearden's ill-suited wife. Excellent casting! Excellent performance!
These are two characters that you love to hate.
James Taggart is every mushy-brained, self-righteous, and self-serving, self-proclaimed do-gooder out there, unaware and unconcerned that he is dragging the USA and the American people down the Road to Hell with his good intentions of questionable sincerity.
Hank's wife is every luxury loving fool out there, anaesthetized by her comfort and complacency, unaware and unconcerned that the James Taggarts of the world are dragging her and the rest of us down the Road to Hell.
Grant Bowler is excellent as Hank Rearden.
Beautiful Taylor Schilling is excellent as Dagny Taggart. At first I thought she seemed to lovely and feminine for such a powerful role, but her performance soon shattered that illusion! Strength of steel and power of dynamite lurk just beneath the surface of this powerful woman--and one realizes that she IS every woman who has made America great and the human race survive. Her beauty, loveliness, and femininity are expressions of powerful feminine energy--and this hits you like a ton of bricks!
The whole flick does!
I saw the movie Monday night in San Antonio. Theatre was 1/4 filled. Movie was pretty good.
Matthew Marsden does a pretty good John Edwards too, if you watch the clip.
Atlas Shrugged 101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv29SXnd2dk
ping
It does not have an ‘awful’ marketing plan- it has a liberal hollywood establishment 100% against it being shown
“Free Speech for me but not for thee”
the success of this movie will be as “unexpected” as the # of new jobless claims that happen every month.
You're right. Matthew Marsden is good. If he doesn't become a movie superstar I'll be surprised.
I found myself laughing out loud at the video. It's long, but it held my interest.
I particularly liked it when John Aglialoro said that the movie makers avoided "left/right, conservative/progressive, Democrat/Republican". Such ruductions are the bailiwick of the intellectually-challenged who see everything in two dimensions or less (these dolts abound on TV, in politics, and in "Liberal" enclaves). Obviously people as intelligent as those who made this movie see far more.
ßookmark
Film version of Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ offers new course for America
By Fran Eaton
illinoisreview.typepad.com
Last Modified: Apr 22, 2011 02:12PM
The opening scenes of the new movie release “Atlas Shrugged Part 1” are set in 2016, but today’s news is eerily similar to that which author Ayn Rand anticipated 50 years ago.
Collapsed bridges. Protests in the streets. Gas shortages. Unemployment at historic records. Bankrupt businesses. Political corruption. Soup lines. Crime in the streets.
The late Russian-American writer remains an intellectual icon to those who passionately advocate limited government, individual rights and free markets — the ideals of today’s restless Tea Party movement.
And it’s those same ideals that make the timing of Rand’s political thriller about railroad heiress Dagny Taggart and metal magnate Hank Rearden so powerful. Our nation’s economic system is facing the effects of abandoning those American foundational ideals for decades. Without an abrupt correction, we, like them, appear set on a disastrous course.
The worst thing that could happen to our American economic system, “Atlas Shrugged” teaches, is for job creators and investment capitalists to pull out in frustration and discouragement. The plot’s heroes, Taggart and Rearden, face overwhelming government regulations, strangling union demands and inside-dealing politicians, all determined to squelch Taggart’s and Rearden’s quests to be productive.
Harmon Kaslov, one of the producers of “Atlas Shrugged Part 1,” said the challenges the his team faced were similar to the movie characters. John Aglialoro, the movie’s financier, had almost given up on the project after trying to produce a film for almost 17 years. The Cybex exercise machine magnate had purchased access to the novel’s rights for 18 years from the Ayn Rand estate, and time was running out. Aglialoro reached out to Kaslov in one last attempt. Together with Aglialoro’s $10 million investment and Kaslov’s enthusiasm, production ensued.
“John and I felt like we were living the novel, in the sense we were facing some of the obstacles the story’s heroes faced,” Kaslov said.
For instance, Rand devotees argued with the producers and writers about how the first part of the 1,100 page novel’s script should be presented. It wasn’t easy to please the ideologues in the group. There were lots of debates of how the book should be adapted.
“We had two goals. First (was) to get the message right. If we got that right, then our core target audience would be happy,” Kaslov said.
“Our next goal was to make the movie accessible to a wide audience. If you haven’t read the book, it’s the story of a woman that’s smart and tenacious. She’s got bureaucrats and politicians working against her. She’s decisive, and she gets things done. She’s an inspiring character,” Kaslov said.
“We think that if we get positive word of mouth about the movie, that important, inspiring message could reach a very broad audience.”
Critiques this weekend ranged from high accolades to disappointment. For some, it was disappointing that the limited-budget movie could not afford big name stars or expensive computerized graphics. Sometimes the actors came across as stiff and uncomfortable, making it difficult for audiences unfamiliar with the story line to warm up.
And then there’s the atypical way they chose to market the independent film.
Only 300 theaters nationwide showed “Shrugged” this weekend, 14 of them in Illinois. But Rand devotees and free-market moviegoers apparently went out of their way to see the film. Box office sales exceeded $1.7 million, and the film averaged third in theaters, behind the new cartoon “Rios” and the horror “Scream 4.”
But in an effort to appeal to grassroots activists, producers encouraged Rand fans to contact their local theaters and “demand” that “Atlas Shrugged Part 1” be shown in their areas. Thus far, the closest theaters for Southland viewers are in Willowbrook, Naperville and Warrenville.
For producer Kaslov, the efforts continue to focus on getting the message to the American public.
“If this inspires people to read the book and embrace its message, then perhaps the world could not become the 2016 the author predicted,” he said. “Our world is in a shaky situation, and that’s what (Rand) saw would happen if we didn’t embrace some of her philosophies.”
Those philosophies of limited government, individual rights and free markets were not about a political party, Rand insisted. They were about acknowledging human nature, and how success itself is a motivation.
During one scene in “Shrugged,” steelmaker Rearden presses down a government bureaucrat who comes to his office demanding Rearden not produce an unfair share of the steel his company had developed. The agency rep says he couldn’t understand why Rearden wouldn’t be willing to give up some of his success for the welfare of others.
“Because it’s mine,” Rearden says. “I don’t expect you to ever understand, but it’s because it’s mine.”
One just needs to attend a Tea Party rally to fully understand Rearden’s comments. Tea Partiers are typical hard workers and small businessmen who just want to be successful and pass their legacy to their children and grandchildren. They see the demands government is making on producers and are angry and frustrated that financial risk-takers and job-creators are scorned by the media and government agents.
The Tea Party movement could be a last attempt to correct America’s economic direction. If this one fails, our nation’s producers could tragically develop into a despondent group, reconciling themselves to a mundane, noncontroversial existence. In other words, we could become a movement of mysterious John Galts.
You know, a distressing image of American culture portrayed by collapsed bridges, protests in the streets, gas shortages, unemployment, bankrupt businesses, soup lines, crime and corruption.
There’s still a chance to reset America’s course, and Ayn Rand’s story with today’s Tea Party movement may just lead the way.
I saw it on Friday here in Battle Creek - only 10 people in the theater, but it was the twilight special. At first I was judgmental about Dagny wearing the ultra-high heels at the construction site for the railway. Then I realized that just because I would wear sensible shoes has as much to say about me as Dagny. Loved it - can’t wait for Part Deux!
Me too!
I also love this:
"Then I realized that just because I would wear sensible shoes has as much to say about me as Dagny."
Would that those who are destroying America had such wisdom, personal insight, and open-mindedness.
...and above all: intellectual honesty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.