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."
He is preaching to the choir, big deal.
Could it be that some of the liberal viewers will realize this scum bag lies and maybe it's time to question things. This F911 might just turn some liberals away from the CRATS.
The Weinsteins must be so proud to be presenting a movie that is loved by people who want to see them, and all Jews, dead.
According to the dictionary a documentory is a impartial exploration of a real life situation without editorializing, so this clearly doesn't qualify. This is more of a crockumentory.
If he does say so himself?
Most people just saw it for curiosity interest. I think it will falter after opening weekend.
Today I phoned the national line of AMC Theatres and informed them that it was quite possible I'd be tearing up my Moviewatcher card and never setting foot in one of their theatres again due to their booking F9/11. Of course, I was given the standard "We feel that there is a lot of interest in the film and that we should provide motion pictures that represent a broad spectrum of viewpoints." I told her that I knew that was the response she'd been provided with, but that we both knew damned well that philosophy wouldn't prompt AMC to book a film touting the joys of pedophilia, so it wasn't going to wash here, either.
Tonight, I crafted and sent the following e-mail to Lion's Gate, to the attention of Tom Ortenberg, their head of distribution, who was quoted as proclaiming "This is a testament to Michael Moore. His voice resonates across the country in what I think we can all now fairly describe as America's movie":
At the risk of momentarily interfering with the backpatting going on at Lion's Gate over the "Fahrenheit 9/11" opening weekend numbers (against such stalwart competition as "White Chicks"), let me just tell you that, despite my fondness and high regard for "The Dead Zone" TV series, the Season 2 DVD set of which I immediately went out and bought when it became available, I will never again spend a single cent on any Lion's Gate product.
That you tout the latest piece of Michael Moore garbage as "America's movie" is as appalling and disgusting as it is laughable, yet ironically your claim is as honest as the film itself, which is to say not in the least. You must really regret not having been able to clean up by helping produce "Triumph of the Will" in the 30s and then open it nationwide across this country in, say, January of 1942. Oddly enough, that film was far more truthful in its presentation. I don't think Goebbels would have dared take the liberties with facts that Moore does on a daily basis.
Sadly, it is unfashionable to enforce our laws regarding treason these days. We have become a more tolerant nation in many ways, both good and bad. Unfortunately, our days as a nation (at least a free one) may soon be coming to an end given that so many, such as yourself and your company, have become tolerant of lies, deception and treasonous behavior, particularly during a time of war. Surely this film easily meets the standard of "aid and comfort to the enemy." At least during WWII, Goebbels and Tokyo Rose weren't operating from within our borders.
Michael Moore has compared the terrorists currently attacking our soldiers and beheading civilians to the minutemen who helped the U.S. gain its freedom during the Revolutionary War. Further, he has stated his desire that more of our soldiers be killed in order to teach us some great lesson (such as the one that Iraqis were so much happier under the thumb of Saddam Hussein and we spoiled that). He has also, on foreign soil, referred to his fellow countrymen as "possibly the dumbest humans on the planet."
How proud you must be to associate yourself with sentiments like that. "America's movie"? I think not. "America's enemies' movie" would be far closer to the truth.
I can hear your hollow defense of "free speech" and the latest in-vogue phrase of the left, "dissent is patriotic," a statement as nonsensical as the rest of what passes for logic among supporters of Moore. Dissent, in and of itself, is not patriotic. Defending the right of dissent is, but dissent itself can be composed of very unpatriotic content; and the right to dissent ends at the point of treason.
Put simply, there are no adequate words to describe my contempt for you. You and your company are the lowest of creatures. You have used your political bigotry to endanger your fellow countrymen, for you can rest assured that this film does indeed encourage the terrorists Moore so gleefully (and dishonestly) tries to link to the Bush administration. And more Americans will die as a result, whether in Iraq or on our own soil. The terrorists will not stop their killing under a John Kerry administration, however much he may try to appease or hide from them. They will continue to kill anyone, including fellow Muslims ultimately, who do not embrace their particular form of Islam.
We didn't come to Europe's aid to stop Hitler before he was able to exterminate 6,000,000 Jews (who, it's worth mentioning, are the primary target of this current insanity), and how much regret has there been over that. President Bush was not willing to wait until the numbers got that high, nor did he have to wait that long. On 9/11, we suffered another Pearl Harbor, only it was our civilians who were attacked, not our military. Yet you and your ilk attack Bush at every opportunity because, unwilling to see more attacks on our soil, he is taking premptive measures to prevent such from happening. You wasted no time staking out your positions regarding Bush's so-called lies or the lack of Saddam's WMD's; and now that more and more evidence is mounting that Bush has been telling the truth, you happily ignore it without consideration of the cost to this country and its people. You, by way of Michael Moore, continue to spread the lies and make money doing it.
I hope this nation survives long enough for you to realize your errors in judgment, but if we do, it will be in spite of your actions.
Googled the USC professor's name - he's hosted on Air America
March 31, 2004
Liberal Talk Radio 2
Michael Williams
Liberal talk-radio network Air America gets off the ground today, broadcasting on five stations in Southern California, New York, Chicago, and Portland. I'll be astounded if they ever seriously compete with Rush Limbaugh's Excellence in Broadcasting network -- which airs on more than 600 stations nationwide -- but we'll find out!
From the article, it sounds like they're half-filling their line-up with B-list comedians.
For example, its midmorning show, which begins tomorrow at 9, will have as its hosts Lizz Winstead, a comedian and a creator of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, and Chuck D, the frontman for the rap group Public Enemy.
They will be followed at noon by Mr. Franken, the "Saturday Night Live" alumnus who has evolved into a satirist, and whose co-host is Katherine Lanpher from Minnesota Public Radio. Martin Kaplan, a communications professor at the University of Southern California, will be the host of a one-hour show about the news media in the early evening.
He will be followed, from 8 to 11 p.m., by Ms. Garofalo, whose main experience in radio was playing the role of a talk-show host for pet owners in the 1996 film "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," and by Mr. Seder, who has worked as a comedian, screenwriter and filmmaker....
http://www.mwilliams.info/archives/001587.php
"A Face in the Crowd," about a media-drunk, lying moralist (the MM story if his extravagant corpulence would not have required panavision at the time), just rolling now on TCM.
third time is a charm :-)
Other records:
.....more than any other film by a grotesquely ugly fat man in history.
.....more than any other film catering to brain-dead Leftists in history.
.....more than any other political Big Lie film posing as a "documentary" in history.
Ignore the ignorant one. This movie will dive after the hardcore libs have seen it. It will be out of theaters in less than 4 weeks if we ignore it.
Another limitation on free speech is the concept of "aid and comfort to the enemy" in time of war, otherwise defined as treason, a capital crime. As it happens, the yelling "fire" analogy is also accurate here, given that Moore's film (as all of his rhetoric) filled with blatant lies and distortions. There might be a case of defending his assault on the administration, even in a time of war, if he at least was being truthful and exposing very real corruption. However, that is not the case, and demonstrably so. So when you say that Moore has a right to say what he wants, you are not entirely correct. And it goes far beyond him saying something I disagree with. His picture is courting the approval of Hezbollah, an organization dedicated to exterminating a group of your fellow human beings. Nice allies you've got there.
As for your attempt to dodge the issues with the old "have you seen the film?" smokescreen, I'll point out the obvious (since it apparently escapes you) in stating that I am not relying on someone else to do my thinking (you know, like Michael Moore does for his groupies). I'm reading reports of the film's content from a variety of sources, including many that praise it or at least share his political views, and I'm comparing that information with established facts. To say that it falls short is an understatement.
On the other hand, if you care to be the first person to go on record as stating that all of the above-referenced articles and reviews have misrepresented what is contained in the movie, I'll be happy to re-evaluate my position on it. Short of that, I prefer not to put money in the pocket of a man whose only consistent ideology seems to be one of enriching himself by exploiting the suffering of others.
Have a nice day, and come election day, make sure none of your fellow Democrats, who are in charge of election procedures and equipment interfere with minorities voting, like your guru insists happened last time around. Oh, I forgot, it was the Republicans who hypnotized the Democrats running the polls and establishing the procedures who were at fault.
Reminds me of the time when the Judicial Nominating committee sent two nobody names with the name of the person they wanted to win to the governor for selection.
Hollyweird gave more a clear shot by keeping competition out of the box office.
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